REPUBLICAN  DOCUMENTS. 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF  THE  MEETING  HELD  AT  THE  TABERNACLE,  IN  THE 
CITY  OF  NEW  YORK,  ON  THE  29th  OF  APRIL,  1856,  PUR- 
SUANT TO  THE  FOLLOWING  CALL  : 

The  citizens  of  New  York  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of 
:he  present  National  Administration  for  the  Extension  of  Slavery  over 
territory  embraced  within  the  compact  of  the  "  Missouri  Compromise,"  and 
in  favor  of  repairing  the  mischiefs  arising  from  the  violation  of  good  faith 
in  its  repeal,  and  of  restoring  the  action  and  position  of  the  Federal  Go- 
vernment on  the  subject  of  Slavery  to  the  principles  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson,  are  respectfully  invited  by  the  undersigned  to  hold  a 
Public  Meeting,  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  on  Tuesday  Evening, 
29th  of  April,  to  hear  the  report  of  the  Delegates  from  the  State  of  New 
York  to  the  Pittsburgh  Convention,  and  to  take  measures  for  an  organized 
maintenance,  in  the  approaching  Presidential  Canvass,  of  the  great  national 
principles  of  Justice  and  Freedom  promulgated  by  that  Convention. 


OHAS.  H.  MARSHALL, 
W.  C.  BRYANT, 
B.  F.  BUTLER, 
J.  B.  WEBB, 
M.  H.  GRINNELL, 
JAMES  H.  TITUS, 
GERARDUS  BOYGE, 
J.  F.  BUTTERWORTH, 
ISAAC  H.  BAILEY, 
R.  EMMET, 

EDMUND  M.  YOUNG. 
JOHN  PETTIGREW", 
SIMEON  DRAPER, 
WM.  ALLEN  BUTLER, 
JON  A.  MILLER, 
ARCH'D  RUSSELL, 
AARON  FRANK, 
A.  WOLF, 
JOHN  MEINHARD, 
FREDERICK  KAPP, 
PETER  WARNIKESSEL, 
ANTH'Y  J.  BLEECKER, 
EDGAR  KETCHUM, 
JOHN  SAY, 
JOHN  BIGELOW, 
WM.  HENRY  ANTHON, 
A.  OAKEY  HALL, 
S.  LAUNNER, 
CHAS.  F.  BRIGGS, 


F.  MOORE, 
JOHN  F.  McCOY, 
WM.  PALEN, 
CHAS.  W.  ELLIOTT, 
WM.  B.  ALLEN, 
L  N.  PERKINS, 
HEN.  P.  FES3ENDEN, 
JOHN  P.  CUMMING, 
GEO.  WHITING, 
ISAAC  DAYTON, 
STEPH'N  C.  CUMMING, 
JOHN  NEWHOUSE, 
JAMES  W.  NYE, 
THADDEUS  HYATT, 
HORACE  WEBSTER, 
WM.  CURTIS  NOYE3, 
JOHN  STEPHENSON, 
J.  HOYT, 

W.  M.  VERMILYE, 
E.  D.  MORGAN, 
J.  W.  EDMONDS, 
JOHN  A.  C.  GRAY, 
HENRY  C.  BO  WEN, 
J.  BLUNT, 
WM.  M.  EVARTS, 
HEN.  S  CHITTENDEN, 
JOHN  E.  WILLIAMS, 
THOMAS  FESSENDEN, 
HERMANN  ROSTER, 


A.  WILLMANN, 
ZAK.  PET2RS0N, 
F.  GRAF, 
GEO.  BLISS.  Jr., 
CHAS.  C.  LEIGH, 
DAVID  McM ASTER, 
CHAS.  C.  WHITEHEAD, 
GEO.  P.  NELSON, 
L.  B.  WYMAN, 
J.  S.  REDFIELD, 
E.  A.  STANSBURY, 
T.  A.  HOWE, 
MAURICE  LEYNE, 
ABXER  CHICHESTER, 
ZENAS  WHEELER, 
R.  H.  AVERY, 
JONA.  J.  CODDINGTON, 
HENRY  W.  BELLOWS, 
WM.  C.  GILMAN, 
HENRY  D.  SEDGWICK, 
WASH.  SMITH, 
JOHN  POLLOCK, 
SAML.  De  La  MATER, 
THOMAS  CUMMING,  Ja. 
WILLIAM  M.  KNOX, 
CHARLES  E.  BUTLER, 
WM.  S.  McCOUN, 
And  some  3000  others. 


(From  the  Evening  Post,  April  30.) 

The  meeting  at  the  Tabernacle  last  night  was  every  way  worthy  of  the  distin- 
guished body  of  citizens  at  whose  call  it  was  assembled.  At  an  early  hour  the  vast 
area  of  that  capacious  edifice  was  thronged  by  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  man- 
ly audiences  which  we  have  seen  assembled  together  in  this  metropolis.  It 
contained  none  who  are  attracted  to  public  meetings  by  bands  of  music,  bonfires 
and  mercenary  processions ;  for  no  such  appeals  were  made.  They  came  simply 
because,  in  the  words  of  the  call,  they  were  "  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy 
"  of  the  present  National  Administration  for  the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory 
"  embraced  within  the  compact  of  the  '  Missouri  Compromise,'  and  in  favor  of 
"  repairing  the  mischiefs  arising  from  the  violation  of  good  faith  in  its  repeal,  and 
"  of  restoring  the  action  and  position  of  the  federal  government,  on  the  subject  of 
"slavery,  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and  Jefferson ;"  and  they  were  determined 
to  signify  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  to  the  civilized  world,  that  the 
great  commercial  metropolis  of  the  New  World  is  determined  at  once  to  put  a  stop 
to  the  nationalization  of  slavery  in  this  republic;  that  they  were  determined  that 
the  ships  which  bear  her  commerce  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  shall  sail  under  a  flag 
which  shall  not  confound  them  on  the  seas  with  the  slave-freighted  bottoms  of 
Algiers  or  Tripoli. 

Punctual  to  the  hour  specified  in  the  call,  the  business  of  the  evening  was  enter- 
ed upon  ;  and  at  half-past  seven  o'clock  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  the  Hon. 
E.  D.  Morgan,  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  who  said : 

"Fellow-citizens:  The  hour  for  which  this  meeting  was  called  having  arrived,  I 
have  been  requested  by  the  Committee  of  Arrangements  to  call  it  to  order;  and  to 
nominate  a  president  for  the  evening.  I  propose  to  you  the  Hon.  Benj.  F.  Butler." 
(Loud  cheers.) 

This  was  carried  unanimously. 

Mr.  Butler  took  his  place  amidst  vehement  cheering,  at  the  conclusion  of  which 
he  remarked  that  he  had  come  there  in  an  infirm  condition  of  health,  and  if  he 
should  not  have  strength  to  remain  in  his  seat  until  the  close  of  the  meeting,  he 
must  claim  their  permission  to  call  one  of  the  vice-presidents  to  take  his  place. 

Anthony  J.  Bleecker  then  rose  and  nominated  the  following  gentlemen  to  act  as 
vice-presidents  and  secretaries: 


J.  B.  WEBB, 
ANTHONY  TIEMANN, 
CHARLES  BURTON, 
HORACE  SOUTHMAYD, 
CHARLES  W.  ELLIOTT, 
AARON  FRANK, 
J.  S.  REDFIED, 
ERASTUS  C.  BENEDICTS 
JOSIAH  RICH, 
B.  W.  BONNEY, 
8.  P.  TOWNSEND, 
JOHN  McKISSON, 
WM.  M.  VERMILYE, 
S.  P.  HUNT, 
GEORGE  BROWN, 
JOHN  A.  C.  GRAY, 
OLIVER  E.  WOOD. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
MOSES  H.  GRINNELL, 
WM.  C.  BRYANT, 
CHARLES  H.  MARSHALL, 
GERARDUS  BOYCE, 
SAMUEL  DEL  A  MATER, 
JOHN  PETT1GREW, 
ISAAC  SHERMAN, 
WASHINGTON  SMITH, 
RUDOLPH  GARRIGUE, 
HENRY  J.  RAYMOND, 
WM.  CURTIS  NOYES, 
EDMUND  M.  YOUNG, 
ISAAC  H.  BAILEY, 
JOHN  W.  EDMONDS, 
JAMES  S.  KELLY, 
JOHN  F.  BUTTERWORTH, 
BENJ.  F.  PINCKNEY, 


JOHN  KEYSER, 
D.  D.  FIELD, 
HENRY  A.  HURLBUT, 
CHARLES  A .  STETSON, 
ORISON  BLUNT, 
J.  H.  TOWNSEND, 
ABRAHAM  M.  <  OZZENS, 
JOHN  J.  HERRICK, 
ROBERT  EMMET, 
WILLIAM  KENT, 
L.  B.  WARD, 
JOHN  STEPHENSON, 
CHARLES  A.  DANA, 
CHARLES  E.  BUTLER, 
JONATHAN  MILLER, 
JOHN  E.  WILLIAMS, 


WM.  H.  ANTHON, 
T.  S.  BERRY, 
JAMES  McKENLEY, 
HENRY  D.  SEDGWICK, 


SECRETARIES. 

AUGUSTUS  F.  DOW, 
JAMES  R.  SPAULING, 
HENRY  A.  CHITTENDEN, 
BERNARD  CASSERLY, 


A.  OAKEY  HALL, 
JOHN  J.  TOWNSEND, 
FREDERICK  KAPP, 
THADDEUS  HYATT. 


The  nominations  were  received  with  much  applause  ;  and  the  meeting  being  now 
completely  organized,  the  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Butler  arose  and  said : 

HON.   B.   F.   BUTLER'S  SPEECH. 

The  circumstances  under  which  this  meeting — composed,  in  a  large  degree,  of 
persons  who  never  before  acted  together  in  apolitical  organization — has  assembled, 
eeem  to  demand  from  the  chair  a  few  words  by  way  of  introduction  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  evening. 


3 


The  object  of  our  meeting  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the  brief  but  comprehensive  call 
by  which  it  has  been  convened. 

It  connects  itself  with  the  approaching  Presidential  canvass  and  derives  from  it 
some  measure  of  the  dignity  and  importance  which,  in  our  country,  belong  to  every 
such  election. 

Besides  the  grave  questions  always  involved  in  the  choice  of  the  Federal  Executive, 
there  is  connected  with  the  coming  election  one  of  pressing  exigency  and  moment.  I 
refer,  it  is  almost  needless  to  say,  to  that  which  relates  to  the  present  welfare  and 
future  condition  of  the  territory  of  Kansas.  The  wanton  and  perfidious  repeal,  by 
the  Congress  of  1854,  of  the  slavery  restriction  clause  in  the  Missouri  compact;  the 
attempts  since  made  to  introduce,  by  force  and  fraud,  African  bondage  into  territory 
dedicated,  by  faith  and  honor,  as  well  as  by  act  of  Congress,  to  human  freedom ;  and 
the  trying  circumstances,  past  and  present,  of  the  settlers  in  that  territory,  give  to 
this  particular  question,  at  this  juncture,  a  special,  concentrated  and  far-reaching 
interest. 

But  the  rescue  of  Kansas  from  slavery,  and  the  establishment,  within  her  borders, 
of  a  free  state — necessary  and  gratifying  as  are  and  will  be  these  results — are  only 
parts,  and  comparatively  small  parts,  of  the  work  to  which  we  now  are  called. 

The  principles  of  Human  Right  and  of  Democratic  Liberty,  proclaimed  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  exemplified  by  the  acts  and  writings  of  the  fathers 
and  founders  of  the  republic,  are  boldly  denied  by  political  leaders  of  all  parties  in 
the  South.  This  denial  has  been  echoed  from  the  topmost  seat  of  executive  power, 
in  solemn  messages  to  the  representatives  of  the  people'and  the  states.  It  is  indus- 
triously repeated  by  placemen  and  place-hunters  in  every  quarter  of  the  country. 
It  is  supinely  acquiesced  in  by  those  who  are  content  to  follow  the  traditions  and 
forms  of  the  party  with  which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  act,  without  caring 
for  the  life-giving  principles  from  which  it  derived  its  being,  and  by  which  alone  it 
can  be  saved  from  death  and  putrefaction. 

The  real  question  for  the  next  election  is  therefore  no  less  a  one  than  this :  Shall 
the  federal  government  be  divorced  from  its  present  alliance  with,  and  subserviency 
to,  the  slave  power ;  or  shall  such  alliance  and  subserviency,  with  ever  increasing 
degradation,  be  continued  for  another  term  of  four  years  ?"  (Cheers.) 

This  question  must  be  met  and  answered.  It  must  be  met  and  answered  in  the 
right  way.  The  federal  government  must  be  brought  back  to  its  first  principles. 
The  false  theories  and  pernicious  schemes  of  slavery-propagandism,  must  be  re- 
buked. The  northern  men  who,  in  the  legislative  and  executive  departments,  have 
lent  themselves  to  these  theories  and  schemes — apostatizing  from  the  faith  of  their 
fathers,  trampling  on  the  interesLs  of  their  Constituents,  and  staining  the  glory  of 
their  country — must  be  tumbled  from  their  seats,  and  by  these  and  other  like  de- 
monstrations of  the  public  will,  it  must  once  more  be  manifested  to  our  own  people 
and  to  the  world,  that  the  American  Union,  while  it  leaves  to  each  state  exclusive 
jurisdiction  and  control  over  all  its  domestic  institutions,  is  yet,  in  its  national  cha- 
racter, distinctly  and  actuall}'  a  free  republic,  founded  on  the  broadest  recognition 
of  human  rights,  and  pledged,  so  far  as  its  limited  powers  extend,  to  the  protection 
and  diffusion  of  these  rights.  It  must  be  seen  and  known  of  all  men,  that  where- 
ever  the  flag  of  our  country  is  unfurled,  freedom  is  the  general  and  cherished  rule, 
slavery  the  partial  and  much  lamented  exception.  (Cheers.) 

I  have  an  abiding  confidence  that  whatever  may  be  the  issue  of  the  coming  elec- 
tion, these  principles  will  ultimately  triumph.  To  doubt  this  would  be  to  distrust 
not  only  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  our  people,  but  the  vitality  and  omnipotence 
of  Truth. 

But  it  is  not  to  be  disguised,  that  the  final  triumph  we  anticipate  will  be  hastened 
or  retarded  by  the  results  of  the  next  Presidential  election.  This  invests  it  with  a 
new  and  momentous  interest,  aud  lays  upon  every  voter  a  heavy  responsibility. 

The  call  under  which  we  have  assembled  looks  to  the  Republican  Convention,  to 
be  held  at  Philadelphia  in  June  next,  for  the  candidates  to  be  supported  by  the 
friends  of  the  great  principles  promulgated  by  the  Convention  held  at  Pittsburgh 
in  February  last.  (Prolonged  applause.)  For  one,  I  gave  to  this  call  my  ready 
signature — I  give  to  the  cause  it  was  intended  to  promote  my  hearty  support. 
(Cheers.) 

The  proceedings  of  the  Pittsburgh  Convention,  while  boldly  maintaining  the 
rights  and  interests  of  human  freedom,  were  marked  throughout  by  a  spirit  of  jus- 
tice, moderation,  and  true  nationality,  entirely  consonant  to  my  own  judgment,  and 


4 


destined,  I  would  fain  hope,  to  receive  the  approval  of  the  American  people.  As 
one  of  the  people,  I  glady  take  my  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  political  party  then 
and  there  organized  ;  and  to  the  extent  of  my  ability,  I  shall  esteem  it,  not  merely 
a  duty,  but  a  high  privilege,  to  do  fair  and  honorable  battle,  on  all  just  occasions, 
for  this  most  righteous  and  patriotic  cause.  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  Butler's  remarks  were  delivered  with  great  animation  and  with  thrilling 
effect.  He  was  frequently  interrupted  by  applause ;  and  when  he  closed,  some 
time  elapsed  before  the  audience  could  be  composed  enough  to  listen  to  his  an- 
nouncement that  the  Hon.  Abijah  Mann,  jun.,  was  present,  prepared  to  make  a  re- 
port on  behalf  of  the  New  York  Delegation  to  the  Pittsburgh  Convention. 

Mr.  Mann's  name,  when  it  was  heard,  was  received  with  loud  cheers,  and  himself 
by  still  louder,  when  he  was  seen.  Quiet  being  finally  restored,  he  proceeded  to 
read  the  following  report : 

MR.  MASS'S  REPORT. 

In  behalf  of  the  delegates  to  the  Republican  Convention  held  at  Pittsburgh  on 
the  22d  day  of  February  last,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  report  to  you  briefly  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  body,  which  are  detailed  in  the  documents  herewith  presented. 

The  Convention  was  composed  of  many  able,  experienced,  and  patriotic  men, 
representing  nearly  all  the  free  states  and  several  of  the  slave  states.  Some  of 
them  were  the  descendants  of  those  who  pledged  their  "  lives,  their  fortunes,  and 
their  sacred  honor"  to  defend  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Not  a  few  were  men  who,  in  past  political  trials,  in  which  they  acted  conspicuous 
parts,  had  differed  widely,  though  always  emulating  each  other  in  their  defence  of 
the  cherished  principles  of  human  liberty  and  the  right  of  self-government. 

A  common  sentiment  inspired  all  hearts — a  common  purpose  united  all  hands  hi 
the  convention,  and  those  differences  were  forgotten — that  sentiment  was  the  love 
of  freedom — that  purpose  was  resistence  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  Con- 
vention felt  the  great  responsibility  of  inaugurating  a  national  party  upon  this 
basis,  but  they  also  felt  that  freedom  was  yet  national  and  slavery  was  sectional  in 
the  hearts  of  the  American  people,  and  they  were  encouraged  to  believe,  from  the 
expressions  of  popular  sentiment,  that  notwithstanding  the  strenuous  efforts  made 
in  certain  quarters  to  crush  out  the  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  slave  power,  that 
slave  spirit  was  not  yet  crushed  out ;  but  that  so  far  from  being  extinguished,  it 
was  burning  brighter,  and  promised  to  illuminate  the  whole  land. 

In  view  of  the  object  of  the  Convention,  they  thought  it  a  fit  occasion  to  recur  to 
the  first  principles  of  government  and  consider  the  state  of  the  Union  in  reference 
to  those  principles,  as  cherished  and  defended  by  their  fathers,  and  it  was  conceded 
there,  as  it  is  wherever  men  dare  to  express;their  opinions,  that  we  have  reached  a 
point  in  our  history  where  we  must  decide  whether  our  mission  to  the  nations  is 
finally  to  proclaim  freedom  and  good  will  to  men,  or  to  propagate  human  slavery 
under  the  a?gis  of  the  Constitution  by  the  power  of  the  federal  government. 

That  is  the  issue  presented  to  us  by  the  apologists  of  slavery  extension,  and  the 
federal  administration  its  exponent  and  supporter.  "While  that  administration  is 
declaring  this  faith,  and  avowing  the  determination  to  subdue  all  opposition  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  the  fair  territories  of  the  Union,  if  need  be,  by  the  power 
of  the  sword,  in  defiance  of  all  opposition,  your  representatives  would  have  been 
unfaithful  to  themselves  and  to  you  if  they  had  declined  the  challenge.  They  ac- 
cepted it,  and  declared  in  language  which  they  trust  you  will  approve,  that 

We  do  therefore  declare  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  as  the  objects  for 
which  we  unite  in  political  action : 

First :  We  demand,  and  shall  attempt  to  secure,  the  repeal  of  all  laws  which 
allow  of  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  territories  once  consecrated  to  freedom, 
and  will  resist,  by  every  constitutional  means,  the  existence  of  slaveiy  in  any  of 
the  territories  of  the  United  States. 

Second:  We  will  support  by  every  lawful  means  our  brethren  in  Kansas  in  their 
constitutional  and  manly  resistance  to  the  usurped  authority  of  their  lawless  in- 
vaders, and  will  give  the  full  weight  of  our  political  power  in  favor  of  the  imme- 
diate admission  of  Kansas  to  the  Union  as  a  free,  sovereign,  independent  state. 

Third:  Believing  that  the  present  national  administration  has  shown  itself  to  be 
weak  and  faithless,  and  that  its  continuance  in  power  is  identified  with  progress  of 
slave  power  to  national  supremacy,  with  exclusion  of  freedom  from  the  territory, 
and  with  increasing  civil  discord,  it  is  a  leading  purpose  of  our  organization  to  re- 
sist and  overthrow  it. 


5 


It  is  a  practical  question  which  the  American  people  are  now  required  to  decide ; 
and  in  doing  so,  let  every  man  come  forth  and  perform  his  duty  to  the  Constitution 
— to  liberty^  to  his  country,  and  his  God.  Let  the  freemen  of  every  party,  who 
witnessed  with  indignation  the  overthrow  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  by  the  com- 
bined forces  of  avarice,  treachery,  and  ambition,  lend  their  aid  to  defeat  the  con- 
summation of  the  scheme. 

Let  the  men  who  hailed  the  admission  of  California  into  the  Union  as  a  free 
state — the  Queen,  herself,  of  the  Pacific— grateful  for  that  preservation  of  her  in- 
terests and  her  honor,  unite  to  rescue  the  latest  and  feeblest  victim  in  Kansas  from 
the  oppressor.  Let  all  good  men  lay  aside  old  party  prejudices,  and  combine  to 
restore  the  federal  government  to  its  legitimate  sphere  of  executing  the  powers 
conferred  upon  it  by  the  Constitution.  This  is  the  basis  on  which  the  Republican 
movement  rests,  and  these  are  some  of  the  leading  principles  which  the  Convention 
intend  to  recommend.  They  did  not  deem  it  necessary  or  expedient  to  discuss  the 
moral,  social,  or  economical  influence  of  slavery  upon  its  masters  and  owners,  or 
their  position  in  the  ranks  of  modern  Christian  civilization,  preferring  to  offer  to 
them  the  fraternal  hand  of  fellowship  in  aid  of  their  progress  to  the  principles  and 
benefits  of  freedom. 

William  M.  Evarts,  Esq.,  one  of  the  gentlemen  who,  in  1850,  took  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  famous  Castle  Garden  meeting,  under  the  delusion  which  few  men  as 
sensible  as  he  shared,  that  the  safety  of  the  Union  required  the  passage  of  the 
Compromises  of  that  year,  then  came  forward  to  move  the  acceptance  of  the  re- 
port. He  made  the  motion,  and  he  made  a  speech  also  ;  and  we  speak  the  unani- 
mous voice,  we  believe,  of  all  present,  when  we  say  it  was  one  of  the  most  effec- 
tive and  eloquent  political  speeches  they  ever  listened  to.  Nor  did  it,  like  most 
political  speeches,  consist  merely  of  transient  effects,  but  it  abounded  in  rhetorical 
and  logical  combinations,  which  are  destined  to  take  a  permanent  place  among  the 
artillery  accumulating  against  the  day  of  need  in  the  great  arsenal  of  freedom. 
He  spoke  as  follows  : 

SPEECH  OP  WII^IAM  M.  EVARTS. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  :  In  moving,  sir,  as  I  now  do,  the  acceptance  by 
this  meeting  of  the  report  of  the  Pittsburgh  jConvention,  which  has  been  so  impres- 
sively introduced  to  our  attention,  I  shall  consult  the  proprieties  of  the  occasion, 
and  my  own  disposition,  no  less  than  that  of  this  audience,  by  making  a  brief  sug- 
gestion as  to  some  of  the  principal  features  of  the  call,  the  occasion,  and  the  cause 
that  has  brought  us  together. 

Your  call  supposes,  sir,  that  the  present  administration  of  federal  power  has 
adopted  a  policy,  and  is  pursuing  a  measure  for  the  extension  of  slavery  over  ter- 
ritories once  secured  to  freedom — that  the  first  step  in  this  aggressive  movement 
was  a  disturbance  of  a  solemn  arrangement,  which  had  been  entered  into  between 
the  two  opposing  interests  ;  a  sentiment  which  divided  the  country,  and  a  violation 
of  the  good  faith  in  which  that  arrangement  was  cemented,  and  with  which  it  has 
been  hitherto  observed  and  defended.  It  supposes  that  this  course  of  federal  poli- 
tics is  a  departure  from  the  sensible,  necessary,  and  primary  principle  on  which 
our  government  was  founded,  and  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  organized,  and  has 
hitherto  been  maintained,  and  it  shows  us  that  the  public  welfare  requires  that  this 
evil  legislation  should  be  reconsidered ;  that  this  violated  faith  should  be  recon- 
structed, and  that  the  principles  and  practice  of  the  federal  government  should  be 
restored  to  those  which  were  professed  and  acted  upon  by  Washington  and  Jeffer- 
son, and  which  are  alone  compatible  with  our  honor,  our  dignity,  and  our  safety  as 
a  people.  (Loud  applause,)  Now,  Mr.  President,  let  us  consider  what  the  three 
great  steps  of  the  federal  government  by  federal  legislation  have  been,  on  this  sub- 
ject of  slavery. 

At  the  very  outset  of  our  government  the  common  territory,  unoccupied  by  any 
state  jurisdiction,  was  all  devoted  by  a  solemn  ordinance  to  freedom  forever.  That 
was  the  sentiment — that  was  the  action  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic  in  1787, 
and  re-enacted  in  1789.  All  was  not  too  much  then  to  give  to  freedom  ,  and  all 
agreed  that  all  was  not  too  much  for  freedom.  (Loud  cheers.)  Now,  at  that  time 
Mr.  Madison  thus  expressed  himself,  in  reference  to  the  federal  constitution  in  this 
aspect.  He  said  that  he  took  it  that  the  Constitution  was  formed  in  order  that  the 
government  might  save  herself  from  the  reproaches,  and  her  posterity  from  the  im- 
becilities which  are  always  attendant  upon  a  country  filled  with  slaves.  (Ap- 
plause.) 


6 


General  Lee,  of  Virginia,  says  that  the  Constitution  has  done  os  much  as  it  ought 
to  do,  but  he  lamented  that  it  had  not  contained  some  provision  for  the  gradual 
abolition  of  slavery.  This  was  the  action,  this  the  sentiment  then.  (Loud  cheers.) 
Just  one-third  of  a  generation  passes  away,  just  one  generation  of  men  is  withdrawn 
from  the  scene,  and  precisely  the  same  question  is  presented  to  the  American 
people  as  to  the  future  fate  of  its  new  territory  then  coming  up  for  occupation  by 
civilized  men.  And  then,  gentlemen,  in  order  to  obtain  one-half  of  that  territory 
for  freedom,  there  must  be  paid  out  of  that  half  a  region  large  enough  for  a  king- 
dom as  a  ransom  for  the  rest.  (Cheers.)  Mark  how  the  American  people  and 
American  statesmen  and  American  politicians  have  changed  in  thirty-three  years  ! 

But,  Mr.  President,  thirty-three  years  now  roll  over  again.  That  generation  of 
statesmen  has  passed  off  the  stage.  In  the  year  1854  the  question  is  again  pre- 
sented to  the  American  people,  the  American  statesmen,  and  the  American  Con- 
gress— what  shall  we  do  between  slavery  and  freedom  ?  Then  the  ransom  paid 
for  the  half  of  the  territory  is  forgotten,  and  then,  by  direct  federal  legislation,  it  is 
determined  that  the  half  that  was  given  in  the  generation  ago,  shall  be  taken  back 
by  our  generation  and  in  our  day.    (Cheers.)    This  is  the  second  step. 

Now  let  me  imagine  that  another  third  of  a  century  has  passed  away — that  our 
generation  is  withdrawn  from  the  stage — and  when  we  come  to  the  year  '87,  the 
date  of  the  ordinance  of  freedom,  and  the  year  '89,  the  date  of  the  first  free  re- 
public of  modern  times,  how  shall  we  show  our  progress,  how  shall  we  mark  our 
statesmenship,  if  the  same  path  be  pursued,  but  by  a  solemn  declaration  that  hence- 
forth, in  all  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  slavery  and  involuntary  servitude 
shall  be  forever  by  law  established  ?  (Cheers.)  There  is  nothing  else  for  us  to  do. 
"We  gave  once  all  to  freedom.  We  gave  next  half  to  slavery.  We  take  away  next 
the  half  given  to  freedom,  and  there  is  nothing  left  for  us.  Wherever  Freedom 
dwells  under  our  flag,  Slavery  follows  close  after  her.  (Applause.) 

There  is  this  great  and  solemn  lesson  taught  by  the  review,  and  that  is,  that  no 
succeeding  generation  has  corrected  the  error,  or  retraced  the  step  of  its  predeces- 
sors, and  the  solemn  monition  is  put  to  us  that  we  should  follow  quickly  this  action 
by  reaction.  It  is  for  you  now  who  have  seen  this  thing  done  to  undo  it.  It  is  for 
you  to  protest.  (Cheers.)  Now,  we  suppose  that  this  subject  of  the  extension  of 
slavery  to  territories,  which  if  they  Have  any  government  are  governed  by  the 
federal  power,  is  a  legitimate  subject  of  federal  politics,  and  we  intend  to  act  ac- 
cordingly. We  suppose  that  it  is  a  more  important  subject  of  federal  politics  than 
any  others,  and  we  intend  to  act  accordingly.  We  have  called  you  together,  and 
you  have  responded  to  the  call  in  one  of  those  echoes  which  are  heard  from  one 
quarter  of  the  land  to  the  other.  This  is  a  practical  question.  It  is  a  question  of 
making  this  sentiment  felt  in  the  way  that  politicians  understand — by  votes,  by  in- 
fluence, by  condemnation  of  the  bad  and  by  the  support  of  the  good.  (Cheers.) 

We  do  not  intend  to  be  misled  into  any  inquiry  or  sympathy,  however  aggravat- 
ing the  wrong  of  the  slave  may  be.  We  do  not  intend  to  be  drawn  into  any  dis- 
cussion of  mere  ethics,  or  of  mere  philanthropy  for  the  "inferior  race,"  as  they  are 
called  by  our  southern  brethren.  We  do  not  intend  to  unsettle  any  social  relation, 
but  we  intend  to  exercise  the  clear  right  of  freedom  in  determining  that  new  and 
large  regions  shall  be  devoted  to  free  labor  upon  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  exclusion 
of  slavery  upon  the  other.  (Loud  cheers,)  In  determining  this  principle,  we  have 
no  occasion  to  quarrel  with  any  of  the  dogmas  that  are  assumed  or  argued  by  those 
who  have  an  interest  in  slavery. 

It  is  said  by  them  that  slavery  in  this  country  has  been  productive  of  unmixed 
good  to  the  negro.  So  be  it,  if  they  can  prove  it.  But  it  is  our  opinion  it  has  been 
productive  of  unmixed  evil  to  the  white  man. 

They  say  that  slavery  is  the  only  relation  which  is  possible  in  a  society  which  is 
composed  of  blacks  and  whites  and  mixed  races.  So  be  it,  if  they  can  prove  it. 
But  that  only  adds  to  the  rectitude  of  our  opinion  that  no  new  territory  should  be 
occupied  by  mixed  races.  (Cheers.) 

Now,  there  is  another  argument  by  which  the  slave-holding  interest  treats  the 
efforts  of  the  freemen  of  the  North  to  get  possession  of  some  part  of  these  terri- 
tories. It  is  said  that  they  have  been  won  by  our  common  blood  and  treasure. 
Well  now,  if  this  were  an  argument  to  show  that  the  black  race  ought  to  be  al- 
lowed to  go  into  a  new  territory — if  it  was  pretended  that  they  had  been  won  by 
the  common  blood  and  treasure  of  the  blacks  of  the  South  and  the  white  men  of 
the  North,  I  could  understand  the  force  of  the  argument.  (Applause.) 


7 


It  has  been  won  by  the  common  blood  and  treasure  of  the  white  men  of  the 
whole  country ;  and  if  God  assist  the  efforts  we  commence  to-night,  it  shall  be  oo- 
cupied  by  the  white  men  of  the  whole  country.  (Cheers.) 

Well,  it  is  said  that  it  is  the  part  of  brethren  to  occupy  their  common  heritage 
in  peace  and  quiet,  and  that  the  white  man  of  the  South  and  the  white  man  of  the 
North  should  go  together  and  possess  the  land ;  but  there  is  one  difficulty  about 
this  business.  It  does  not  depend  upon  the  law  of  Congress  or  the  law  of  any 
State,  but  it  is  written  in  the  hearts  of  the  free  laborers  of  our  country  that  they 
will  not  work  side  by  side  with  slaves.  (Cheers.)  Labor,  gentlemen,  we  acknow- 
ledge to  be  the  source  and  basis  of  all  our  wealth,  of  all  our  progress,  of  all  our 
dignity  and  value,  but  it  is  the  labor  of  the  free  man.  (Cheers.)  Carry  through 
this  campaign  the  principle  that  the  land  of  the  United  States  which  is  not  inclos- 
ed within  state  limits  belongs  to  the  white  citizens  of  the  United  States.  There  is 
nothing  revolutionary  I  take  it  in  that.  Slavery,  as  a  special  interest,  does  not 
stand  different  from  other  interests.  In  my  judgment,  the  slave  interest  is  no 
more  entitled  to  the  control  and  protection  of  this  country  than  the  financial  or 
tariff  interests.  (Applause.)  The  people  should  govern  the  country,  or  the  peo- 
ple should  desert  the  country — one  thing  or  the  other. 

Another  thing  in  our  republican  organization  is,  that  we  are  comprehensive  in 
our  politics,  and  not  sectional.  Now,  white  men  live  all  over  the  country,  but 
black  men  are  geographically  situated.  (Laughter.)  The  party  of  slavery  is  ne- 
cessarily a  geographical  party — it  is  a  geographical  party  in  fact  and  it  is  a  ge- 
ographical party  by  the  lines  of  industry,  which  can  make  that  institution  live  only 
in  the  climate  of  the  South.  But  free  labor  can  live  everywhere.  (Applause.) 
Ours,  then,  i3  the  comprehensive  party — theirs  is  the  geographical  party.  (Cheers.) 

But  there  is,  gentlemen,  a  much  more  serious  evil  in  our  politics  than  this  I  have 
alluded — I  mean  that  controlling  division  called  by  the  odious  names  of  North  and 
South.  "Why,  our  country  has  grown  very  much  since  these  names  originated. 
When  the  Constitution  was  formed,  the  whole  population  of  the  United  States  re- 
sided on  a  strip  of  territory  along  the  Atlantic  coast ;  and  then  the  country  was 
necessarily  divided  into  a  North  and  South,  for  it  was  all  East  and  no  West.  But 
I  should  think,  that,  with  the  growth  of  our  institutions  and  population  until 
they  now  occupy  the  continent,  and  look  out  upon  the  broad  Pacific,  it  might  be 
concede:!  that  there  was  something  besides  a  North  and  a  South — that  there  was 
an  East,  a  Centre,  and  a  West.  (Loud  applause.)  Now,  we  know  that  we  stand,  not 
by  the  North,  not  by  the  South,  but  by  the  labor  of  free  men,  wherever 
they  are,  and  against  slavery  and  the  lovers  of  slavery  wherever  they  are. 
(Cheers.)  We  expect  to  find  lovers  of  freedom  in  Maryland,  in  Virginia,  in  Mis- 
souri, in  Kentucky,  in  Tennessee,  in  Texas,  and  in  every  southern  state.  We  know 1 
we  shall  find  lovers  of  slavery  in  Massachusetts,  in  New  Hampshire,  in  New  York, 
in  New  Jersey,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  every  free  state ;  and  if  there  be  anything 
geographical  in  that  discrimination  of  parties,  it  is  the  geography  of  the  United 
States.    (Laughter  and  Applause.) 

There  is  another  very  great  difficulty  which  the  North — I  will  not  say  "  North," 
for  I  have  eliminated  that  phrase  from  our  politics ;  but  which  the  free  states  of 
this  country  greatly  suffer  from.  I  mean  the  degradation  of  politics.  We  have 
had  left  among  us,  until  recently,  great  statesmen,  great  orators,  great  public  men; 
but  these  gentlemen  had  commenced  their  career  under  the  impulses  and  influences 
of  the  new  government,  and  the  general  principles  of  freedom  and  equality  with 
which  the  new  government  started.  When,  however,  slavery  came  to  control  the 
government  of  its  own  states,  and  by  that  means  to  control  the  federal  government 
and  the  politics  of  the  free  states  through  its  patronage,  to  feed  ambition,  I  can 
tell  you  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  though  the  old  men  may  be  content  to  acquiesce, 
the  educated,  intelligent,  public-spirited  young  men  of  the  North  have  studied,  and 
will  study,  anything  but  politics  which  teaches  them  their  degradation.  (Cheers.) 

But  roll  back  the  tide:  let  it  be  understood  that  instead  of  your  accomplished 
diplomatists  and  jurists  being  interrogated  before  they  can  receive  admission  at 
Washington  as  to  what  they  think  about  slavery,  that  it  may  be  seen  if  they  are 
acceptable  to  the  South — change  the  tone  of  the  question — encourage  a  free  expres- 
sion of  opinion  on  that  as  on  other  subjects — and  you  will  have  your  politics  puri- 
fied.   Our  duty  has  a  higher  consideration  than  all  this.  (Cheers.) 

Let  me  ask  your  attention  for  a  moment  to  an  incident  of  the  last  winter.  The 
unwonted  rigor  of  the  season  had  spanned  the  Ohio  with  a  free  bridge.  (Ap- 
lause.)  A  poor  slave-mother,  with  all  the  treasure  that  she  had  in  the  world — 
er  children,  from  a  growing  boy  and  beautiful  girl  to  an  infant  upon  her  breast — 


8 


had  passed  over  that  free  bridge,  without  let  or  hindrance,  and  was  on  the  free 
soil  of  Ohio.  (Applause.) 

The  power  of  the  federal  government,  under  a  law  of  which  I  have  no  com- 
plaint to  make,  pursued  that  slave-mother  to  send  her  back  to  servitude ;  and, 
not  able  to  release  herself,  she  let  out  the  spirit  of  her  child  into  the  free  light  of 
heaven,  even  through  the  dark  portal  of  death.  (Loud  applause.)  If  it  was  no- 
ble and  brave  in  the  stern  Cato  to  taunt  the  Roman  Senate  with  their  long  delay 
as  to  which  of  the  two  they  would  choose,  slavery  or  death,  who  shall  say  it  was 
ignominious  in  that  poor  slave-motberv  by  a  quick  decision  and  a  flashing  execu- 
tion, to  determine  that  question  for  her  posterity.  (Prolonged  cheers.)  Ah! 
gentlemen,  one  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin ;  and  there  are  many 
of  us  who  feel  a  greater  pride  in  sharing  the  bright  red  blood  that  ran  through 
a  heart  bounding  for  freedom,  under  the  dark  bosom  of  that  poor  slave-mother, 
far  greater  than  that  we  share  in  common  with  the  pale  faces  of  some  of  the  states- 
men of  the  North.    (Cheers  and  laughter.) 

Thus  much  for  illustration  of  what  is  the  lesson  that  I  would  teach.  The  in- 
fant state  of  Kansas  now  reposes  upon  the  bosom  of  the  American  people.  The 
vows  that  swore  she  should  be  born  free  have  been  violated ;  the  charter  of  her 
manumission  has  been  repudiated,  and  she  was  born  exposed  to  slavery.  A  man- 
ly band  of  freemen  has  saved  that  infant  state ;  but  the  federal  government  is  now 
fast  pursuing  to  snatch  it  from  their  protection  and  from  yours ;  and  if  you  ad- 
mire the  spirit  of  the  poor  slave  woman  of  Kentucky,  that  would  treat  her  off- 
spring thus  to  save  them  from  slavery,  what  shall  I  say  to  you  to  induce  you  to 
come  forward  to  save  Kansas,  and  her  millions  to  be  born,  from  that  slavery  from 
which  a  noble  band  of  freemen  have  rescued  her?  (Applause.)  Are  the  slaves 
of  Kentucky  of  nobler  blcod  than  the  freemen  of  New  York?  (Cheers,  and  cries 
of  "No.") 

But,  gentlemen,  it  i3  said  that  "the  Union  must  and  shall  be  preserved," 
(laughter,)  and  that  is  the  principal  object  of  my  speech  to-night.  (Renewed 
laughter.)  I  should  suppose  that  eighteen  hundred  years  without  a  new  experi- 
ment had  furnished  illustration  enough  of  the  loud  shouts  which  may  be  put  forth 
in  defence  of  the  shrine  of  the  "Great  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,"  when  the  real  inter- 
est of  the  shouters  was  concerned  in  the  business  of  "Alexander  the  Copper- 
smith." (Laughter.)  And  for  all  that  class  of  shouters  for  the  preservation  of 
the  Union,  I  have  no  respect.  (Cheers.)  Their  occupation  and  government  of  the 
country,  through  the  slave  interest  is  the  "  business  of  Alexander  the  Copper- 
smith," and  they  must  save  Diana's  shrine,  in  order  to  support  that  business. 
(Cheers  and  laughter.) 

But  there  is  a  verv  large  class  of  most  worthy  and  patriotic  citizens,  who  are 
justly  sensitive  upon  any  subject  which  looks  askance  on  good  faith  and  good  feel- 
ing ;  though  how  they  can  complacently  look  on  and  recognize  good  faith  or  good 
feeling  in  the  bad  faith  and  bad  feeling  practised  upon  the  other  side  of  the  Union, 
I  do  not  know.  (Cheers.)  Now,  this  class  has  found  an  eloquent  voice  in  the 
speech  and  letter  of  an  accomplished  orator  of  New  England,  in  which  he  closes  by 
expressing  the  sentiment  that  he  "  cannot  unite  with  any  band  which  does  not 
follow  the  flag  and  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the  Union."  These  are  my  sentiments 
precisely.  (Cheers.)  But  it  becomes  important  to  know  what  the  flag  and  what 
the  music  of  the  Union  is.  I  am  not  myself  sensible  of  any  strange  transformation 
of  the  American  people,  which,  in  the  course  of  seventy  years,  should  change  the 
noble  hymn  of  American  Freedom  from  being  the  music  of  the  Union  into  a  sing- 
song chaunt  in  praise  of  African  slavery.  (Applause.) 

And,  as  to  the  "flag  of  the  Union,"  1  would  say  to  that  elegant  orator,  that  the 
greatest  statesman  of  New  England,  when,  in  possession  of  his  best  reasoning 
powers  and  overwhelming  oratory,  he  stood  up  to  support  the  Union  and  Consti- 
tution, could  give  him  a  description  of  that  flag.  It  is  "  the  gorgeous  ensign  of 
the  Republic,  now  known  and  honored  throughout  the  earth — still  full,  high  ad- 
vanced— its  arms  and  trophies  streaming  in  their  original  lustre — not  a  stripe 
erased  or  polluted,  nor  a  single  star  obscured — but  everywhere,  spread  all  over, 
in  characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds  as  they  float  over  the 
sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  sentiment ' 
dear  to  every  true  American  heart — '  Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever — one 
nnd  inseparable !' "  That  is  the  flag  of  the  Union  which  you  and  all  of  us  will  fol- 
low, and  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the  shouts  of  freemen  that  attend  it.  (Cheers.) 

But  when  we  find  that  flag  in  the  hands  of  whatever  standard-bearers — whe- 


9 


ther  they  assume  the  honored  name  of  the  democratic  party,  or  any  other — and 
notice  that  it  is  unfurled,  with  every  stripe  polluted,  and  every  star  obscured — all  its 
floating  glories  darkened,  and  its  ennobling  sentiment  giving  place  to  the  shocking 
motto  of  "  Slavery  and  Union — now  and  forever — one  and  inseparable" — then  will 
we  trample  that  flag  in  the  dust,  and  strike  down  that  standard-bearer,  as  a  con- 
spirator against  the  public  freedom,  and  a  traitor  to  the  honor  and  freedom  of  the 
Union.    (Prolonged  applause.) 

When  the  applause  had  measurably  subsided,  the  report  presented  by  the  Hon. 
Abijah  Mann  was  unanimously  adopted. 

The  Chairman  then  said  :  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  the  meeting  the 
Hon.  John  A.  Bingham,  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  the  state  of 
Ohio.  (Applause.) 

SPEECH  OF  HON.  JOHN  A.  BINGHAM. 

Mr.  Bingham  said  :  I  was  impressed  with  the  remarks  of  your  honorable  chair- 
man in  referring  to  the  call  which  had  convened  this  vast  assembly  of  the  friends 
of  freedom,  that  it  was  to  bring  back  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  the 
policy  of  Washington  and  Jefferson.  Those  words  were  expressed,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  by  that  old  Continental  Congress  that  met  at  the  outbreaking  of  the  war 
of  the  revolution,  when  they  said  to  their  countrymen  :  "We  have  come  together 
to  take  care  of  the  liberty  of  the  country."  The  people  of  the  Empire  State — the 
people,  thank  God,  of  every  free  State  in  the  Union — are  this  day  mustering  their 
forces  to  take  care  of  the  liberty  of  country — (applause) — to  bring  back  the  Go- 
vernment, under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  to  the  policy  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson.  (Cheering.) 

It  is  with  shame  and  humiliation  that  an  American  citizen  confesses — but  he 
must  confess  it,  for  the  fact  stands  in  his  path — that  the  Constitution  of  this  coun- 
try, which  Washington  and  his  peerless  associates  gave  us,  is  this  day  put  upon 
trial.  Those  whose  special  duty  it  was  to  keep  watch  and  ward  over  that  sacred 
instrument  have  betrayed  it,  defiled  it,  and  polluted  it.  (Applause.)  They  have 
struck  from  that  hallowed  parchment  those  thrilling  words  which  stand  in  the  very 
introduction  of  it :  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  establish  jus- 
tice— the  imperishable  attribute  of  God — to  secure  liberty — the  imperishable  right 
of  man — to  ordain  "  and  establish  the  Constitution."  Those  thrilling  words,  I  say, 
are  to  be  taken  from  that  instrument,  and  in  their  stead  are  to  be  written,  "  injus- 
tice," and  "oppression."  And  then  the  instrument  will  read:  We,  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  in  order  to  establish  injustice,  and  to  secure  to  ourselves  and  our 
posterity  the  blessings  of  despotism,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution.  The 
question  is  :  Shall  that  obliteration  be  made  ?    (" No,  no") 

No  man  at  all  conversant  with  the  history  of  this  country  can  fail  to  perceive 
that  a  great  change  has  been  manifested  in  the  deportment  of  the  Government  at 
"Washington.  The  policy  there  is  a3  diametrically  opposed  to  the  policy  of  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson  as  was  the  policy  of  Russia  to  that  of  Washington  and  Jeffer- 
son. They  made  no  attempt  to  satisfy  the  people  of  the  United  States,  but  they 
were  banded  together  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  institution  of  human 
slavery.  No  idea  of  that  kind  ever  entered  into  the  thoughts  of  the  men  who 
formed  the  Constitution  under  which  we  live.  "Washington  said  :  "  The  principles 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  are  entirely  free."  Those  are  the  words 
which  he  employed  in  that  farewell  address  which  he  gives  to  us  his  last  legacy. 
He  says  that  the  principles  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  are  completely 
free.  (Cheers.)  And  in  another  part  of  the  same  address  he  tells  us  that  the 
community  of  government  which  constitutes  us  one  people  is  dear  to  us,  and  it  is 
justly  so  because  it  is  the  main  pillar  in  the  defence  of  our  independence,  the  sup- 
port of  tranquillity  at  home,  of  peace  abroad,  and  of  our  prosperity  in  that  very 
liberty  which  we  so  highly  prize. 

This  was  the  great  idea  of  Washington,  that  the  principles  of  our  government 
are  entirely  free,  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  constitutes  us  one 
people,  one  in  interest,  and  one  in  destiny.  And,  catching  the  great  spirit  of 
Washington,  our  Webster  tells  that  we  have  but  one  country,  one  constitution,  and 
one  destiny.  What,  now,  is  the  language  of  this  administration  ?  That  we  are  a 
confederation  of  separate  sovereign  and  independent  States;  not  being  one  people 
at  all,  not  having  one  interest  at  all,  and  not  having  one  destiny  at  all ;  but  a  set 
of  sovereign  and  independent  States,  banded  together  for  the  purpose — among 
other  things — of  maintaining  the  worst  sj stem  of  despotism  the  world  ever  saw. 
(Sensation.) 


10 


I  find  in  a  certain  message  addressed  to  the  Thirty -fourth  Congress  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  dated  the  31st  of  December,  1855,  and  signed  Franklin  Pierce, 
this  strange  language :  "  That  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  in  effect  that 
"  Congress  of  sovereignties  which  good  men  in  the  old  world  have  sought  for  but 
"  could  never  obtain.  Our  co-operative  action  rests  on  the  conditions  of  permanent 
"confederation  prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  Our  balance  of  power  is  in  the 
"  separate  reserved  rights  of  the  States ;"  and  after  reasoning  on  about  this  con- 
federation of  States  as  though  the  old  articles  of  confederation  had  not  perished 
with  the  last  battle  of  the  revolution,  and  had  been  superseded  by  this  new  cove- 
nant of  freedom,  which  bears  first  the  name  of  Washington,  and  afterward  that 
scarcely  less  renowned  name,  your  own  Alaxander  Hamilton — (Cheers) — after 
characterizing  that  Union  as  a  mere  bond  of  confederation,  he  goes  on  and  uses 
these  other  words,  which  come  in  direct  conflict  with  those  thrilling  words  of 
Washingion:  "  That  the  principles  of  our  government  are  perfectly  and  entirely 
free."  He  says:  "Hence,  while  the  general  Government,  as  well  by  the  enu- 
merated powers  granted  to  it  as  by  those  not  enumerated,  and  therefore  refused  to 
it,  was  forbidden  to  touch  that  matter,  in  sense  of  attack  or  offence,  and  it  was 
placed  under  the  general  safeguard  of  the  Union  in  the  sense  of  defence  against 
either  invasion  or  domestic  violence."  Placed  under  the  general  safeguard  of  the 
Union!  What  !  placed  under  the  safeguard  of  the  Union!  Why,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  I  have  been  disposed  to  look  upon  this  Union  as  a  sacred  and  a  holy  thing 
— a  perpetual  bond  of  brotherhood,  made,  signed,  and  ratified  by  the  old  men  of 
the  revolution,  who  had  worked  out  the  emancipation  of  themselves  and  their  pos- 
terity on  a  hundred  fields  of  battle.  The  Union  of  these  States  I  thought  was  a 
bond  of  brotherhood,  cemented  together  by  the  blood  of  patriots  and  martyrs,  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  justice  and  securing  the  blessings  of  liberty — (cheering) 
— and  not  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  the  system  of  slavery.  (Applause.)  I 
know  that  when  this  Union  began  to  be,  slavery  existed  in  every  one  of  the  thir- 
teen States ;  but  I  know  also — and  I  thank  God  for  the  conviction,  resting  as  strong 
as  knowledge  upon  my  mind — that  it  did  not  exist  by  reason  of  any  agreement  of 
the  old  men  of  the  revolution  who  won  our  independence  for  us,  but  that  it  existed 
in  spite  of  and  against  their  protest.  (Cheering.)  I  tell  you  that  this  system  of 
African  slavery,  which  seeks  to  penetrate  the  human  soul  and  put  out  the  light  of 
that  understanding  which  the  breath  of  Almighty  hath  kindled  there,  is  not  in- 
digenous to  American  soil.  It  is  exotic.  (Applause.)  It  is  the  offspring  of  despot- 
ism.   It  clings  to  the  sceptre  and  to  the  throne.  (Cheering.) 

No  man  need  tell  me  that  the  old  king-killing  Puritans,  who  gathered  up  their 
wives  and  their  children  and  their  household  gods,  and  committed  all  to  an  un- 
known sea  and  to  the  keeping  of  Him  who  sitteth  upon  the  floods,  and  who  holdeth 
the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  that  they  came  for  the  purpose  of  forging 
fetters  for  human  limbs.  I  can  tell  you  that  they  had  a  nobler  and  a  sublimer  mis- 
sion ;  it  was  to  found  here  what  the  world  had  never  seen — a  church  without  a 
Pope  and  a  State  without  a  king.  (Immense  cheering.)  I  know  that  that  despotic 
power  from  which  they  fled,  under  the  darkness  and  the  cover  of  the  night — for 
you  know  that  it  was  under  the  darkness  and  the  cover  of  the  night  that  those  old 
men  who  laid  the  foundation  of  Massachusetts  colony  escaped  from  the  graves  of 
their  fathers  and  the  scenes  of  their  childhood — I  know,  gentlemen,  that  that  des- 
potic power  from  which  they  fled  pursued  them  into  the  wilderness. 

I  know  that  the  flag  of  St.  George  floated  in  every  sea,  over  the  kidnapped 
children  of  Africa ;  but  I  know  that  the  colonists  rejected  the  attempt  to  fasten 
here  in  their  midst  the  system  of  menial  bondage.  They  loathed  the  idea.  They 
had  found  out  long  before  that  the  sublime  truth  that  God  had  made  of  one  blood 
all  nations  of  men  who  dwell  upon  this  earth.  (Loud  cheering.)  And  hence  I  say- 
it,  and  I  say  it  gladly  here  to-night,  that  Virginia,  the  mother  of  dead  heroes,  and 
dead  patriots  and  dead  statesmen,  but,  thank  God!  the  mother  of  living  empires — 
Virginia  was  the  first  among  the  family  of  nations  to  raise  her  voice  against  this 
infernal  traffic.  (Applause.)  And  now  we  are  to  be  told  that  the  Union  was 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  it.  I  deny  it.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  say  that 
the  history  of  our  country — and  you  know  that  history  never  lies — falsifies  the  as- 
sertion.   I  have  only  to  turn  you  to  that  history. 

Bear  with  me  a  moment  while  I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  people  in 
the  State  of  Virginia,  in  all  or  nearly  all  her  counties,  met  in  her  primary  assem- 
blages before  the  first  blood  flowed  at  Lexington,  and  protested  against  this  traffic. 


11 


(Applause.)  I  beg  to  read  here  one  or  two  resolutions,  because  they  happen  to 
bear  directly  upon  that  question  of  freedom  or  slavery  in  Kansas.  I  find,  my  fellow- 
citizens,  that  in  June,  1774,  there  was  a  general  meeting  of  the  freeholders  and  in- 
habitants of  Prince  George's  county,  in  Virginia,  wherein  it  was  resolved,  among 
other  things,  "  that  the  African  trade  is  injurious  to  the  colony,  because  it  obstructs 
the  population  of  it  by  freemen,  prevents  manufacturers  and  other  useful  people 
from  settling,  and  occasions  an  annual  increase  in  the  balance  of  trade  against  this 
colony."    Because  it  obstructs  the  population  of  it  by  freemen  ! 

I  find  that  a  similar  meeting  was  held  in  Culpepper  county,  in  Virginia,  at  about 
the  same  time,  and  another  in  Nansemond  county,  and  another  on  the  16th  of  July, 
in  the  county  of  Fairfax,  George  Washington,  Esquire,  in  the  chair  (enthusiastic 
applause,)  at  which  it  was  resolved  "that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  that 
during  our  present  difficulties  and  distress,  no  slaves  ought  to  be  imported  into  any 
of  the  British  colonies,  and  in  this  connection,  we  take  this  opportunity  of  declaring 
our  most  earnest  wish  to  see  an  entire  stop  put  forever  to  such  a  wicked,  cruel  and 
unnatural  trade."  (Loud  applause.)  They  had  no  idea  of  putting  it  under  the 
perpetual  safe-guard  of  the  Union — (laughter  and  applause) — they  wished  to  put  a 
stop  forever  to  such  a  cruel,  wicked  and  unnatural  trade.  (Cheers.)  This  sentiment 
was  not  confined  to  Virginia ;  I  told  you  that  it  was  everywhere — that  it  run 
through  all  the  colonies. 

T  note,  amongst  other  things,  the  resolution  and  declaration  of  the  State  o£ 
Georgia,  in  the  year  1775,  in  the  very  same  spirit.  They  declared  their  disappro- 
bation and  abhorrence  of  the  unnatural  practice  of  slavery  in  America.  Next  the 
State  of  Georgia  issued  a  resolve  against  the  perpetuation  of  slavery.  As  a  step- 
further,.  Congress  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  and  entered  into  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Articlas  of  Association,"  and  I  regret  that  I  have  them  not  here  this  evening. 
These  constituted  articles  of  association,  and  of  the  public  policy  of  the  United 
States,  and  I  beg  leave  here  to  state  that  to  all  these  articles  are  appended,  without 
one  exception,  all  the  representatives  in  this  Congress,  and  that  they  declared  that 
they  would  have  no  intercourse  with  any  State  that  continues  the  unnatural  and 
infernal  traffic  in  the  souls  and  bodies  of  men,  (cheers,)  and  I  find,  my  fellow-citi- 
zens, as  one  of  the  signers  of  those  Articles  of  Association,  the  name  of  George 
Washington.    (Long  continued  cheers,) 

Then  we  follow  this  movement  into  another  step*  Anterior  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  they  framed  an  address  against  the  grievances  imposed  by  the 
British  king,  and  then  they  appealed  from  the  throne,  and  from  Parliament  to  the 
great  heart  of  the  British  nation,  and  issued  an  address  to  that  people  directly,  and 
this  was  signed  also  by  the  representatives  of  each  of  the  thirteen  colonies,  and 
among  these  signatures  stands  "in  letters  of  living  light"  the  immortal  name  of 
Washington,  (cheers,)  and  in  that  address  occur  words  strongly  denouncing  traffic  in 
slaves.  And  those  words  ought  to  blister  the  faces  of  those  men.  at  the  American, 
capitol  who  try  to  prostitute  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  of  the  States  to  the 
unhallowed  purpose  of  perpetuating  American  slavery,  (cheers) — a  system  which 
had  its  lodgment  in  the  several  States,  which  was  wholly  local,  and  with  which  the 
United  States  has  nothing  to  do.  An  attempt  was  made  to  introduce  slavery  into 
the  Constitution. 

Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina — I  do  not  wish  to  speak  unkindly  of  South  Caro- 
lina, I  do  not  intend  to  say  anything  disrespectful  of  that  State,  but  I  say  that  she 
is  unfortunate.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  It  was  left  for  the  representative  of  South 
Carolina  alone  to  do  this,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  he  bears  the  name  of  the  dis- 
tinguished chairman  of  this  meeting,  (Laughter.)  Well,  Mr.  Madison — who  is 
sometimes  called  the  Father  of  the  Constitution,  and  I  believe  riglitly — said  that 
that  clause  must  not  go  into  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States — u  Because  we 
intend  this  Constitution  to  be  the  great  charter  of  human. liberty  to  the  unborn 
millions  who  shall  enjoy  its  protection,  and  who  should  never  see  that  such  an  in- 
stitution as  slavery  was  ever  known  in  our  midst."  (Cheers.) 

Why,  these  men  intended  that  the  institution  should  die,  as  they  had  found  out 
the  great  truth  that  a  lie  cannot  live  forever,  that  it  must  die.  (Cheers.)  And  the 
idea  that  one  man  has  the  right  to  make  merchandise  of  the  bones  and  sinews  of 
another,  is  a  stupendous  lie,  and  cannot  live.  (Cheering.)  Why,  they  never 
dreamed  of  perpetuating  slavery.  The  very  bell  which  with  iron  tongue  sum- 
moned these  old  men  together,  to  frame  the  immortal  Declaration,  in  which  they 
declared,  "  that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal,  and  that  they  are  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights,"  that  old  bell  had  inscribed  on  it  these 


12 


words :  "  Proclaim  liberty  throughout  all  lands,  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 
Yet  they  wanted  to  establish  a  Union  in  order  to  place  the  institution  of  slavery 
under  a  safeguard,  or  in  the  words  of  President  Pierce,  "  in  the  sense  of  defence 
and  protection,  (Laughter.) 

Well,  gentlemen,  an  Alabama  senator  named  Clay — it  was  not  the  Clay — it  was 
not  the  immortal  man  whose  ashes  sleep  in  the  shades  of  Ashland,  from  whose 
flaming  tongue  leaped  those  burning  words:  "So  long  as  reason  holds  a  seat  in 
my  brain;  so  long  as  God  allows  the  vital  current  to  flow  through  my  veins,  never, 
never,  never,  by  word  or  note  or  action,  will  I  help  to  give  one  rood  of  free  terri- 
tory to  the  blighting  curse  of  human  bondage."  I  say,  Mr.  President,  it  was  not 
that  Clay,  but  another  Clay  altogether  (laughter) — Clay  of  Alabama  (renewed 
laughter) — in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  had  found  out,  in  reading  some 
speeches  in  that  instrument  of  free  thought,  that  infernal  machine,  the  unfettered 
Press  of  the  North,  that  one  Wm.  H.  Seward  (deafening  cheers)  had  ventured  to 
say  that  this  thing  should  not  be  perpetuated,  and  he  considered  it  an  unpardon- 
able sin  to  say  that  the  institution  was  not  to  last  forever. 

Now,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  of  the  Free  North,  have  no 
notion  of  that  kind ;  they  understand  well  enough  that  there  is  nothing  eternal 
but  God.  Truth  and  Justice — their  hope  and  confidence  has  always  been  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  truth  and  justice.  I  tell  you  that  the  great  throbbing,  pulsat- 
ing heart  of  every  lover  of  freedom  throughout  this  land  have  caught  the  spirit- 
stirring  echoes  of  your  own  immortal  poet,  (turning  to  Mr.  Bryant.)  Immortal,  I 
say,  before  he  has  yet  tasted  death  (three  cheers  for  Mr.  Bryant.)  I  say  the  spirit 
of  the  great  heatt  of  the  American  people  have  caught  the  truthful  and  immortal 
sentiment  of  your  own  poet — 

"  Truth  crushed  to  earth  will  rise  again — 

The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers : 
But  error  wounded  writhes  in  pain, 

And  dies  amid  her  worshippers."  [Cheers.] 

They  have  no  idea  that  any'system  of  wrong,  in  this  or  any  other  land,  shall  be 
perpetual.  (Cheers.)  They  have  caught  the  sentiment  of  old  blind  John  Milton, 
"that  truth  is  invincible,  irresistible,  immortal,  and  incorruptible."  (Cheers.) 
Those  stern  old  men  in  "76  pledged  their  lives  and  sacred  honor  to  maintain  these 
sentiments,  that  all  men  are  endowed  by  their  Creator,  not  by  human  laws,  with 
life  and  liberty,  and,  therefore,  they  said  that  the  writ  of  manumission  was  written 
by  an  imperishable  power.  And,  at  that  moment,  there  was  nowhere  in  the  civilized 
world  a  free  state  where  the  hated  system  of  African  slavery  was  not  recognized, 
and  these  thirteen  colonies  all  recognized  it. 

Soon  after,  actuated  by  the  spirit  of  our  fathers,  the  system  was  repudiated  by 
the  New  England  states,  then  by  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  and  afterward  by 
other  states,  without  any  interference  of  the  general  government,  and  this  spirit 
permeated  the  entire  heart  of  the  South.  Kentucky,  in  amending  her  constitution, 
attempted  to  incorporate  a  law  against  slavery,  and  was  followed  by  many  other 
states.  And  in  the  formation  of  the  territory  northwest  of  the  Ohio  the  same 
spirit  was  manifested.  The  idea  of  liberty  was  abroad  in  all  the  lands.  The  coun- 
try generally  did  not  seem  to  know  that  the  Constitution  was  the  supreme  law 
of  the  land — the  Constitution  which  says  that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  liberty 
or  life,  but  by  due  process  of  law. 

I  said  the  Constitution  is  the  supreme  law  of  the  territories.  The  ordinance  of 
'8*7  was  eminently  just,  and  it  stood  the  perpetual  law  of  that  Northwest  Territory. 
Why,  it  is  but  seventy  years — the  ordinary  period  allotted  as  the  measure  of  human 
life — since  that  enactment  took  place  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
— since  that  vast  territory,  known  as  the  Northwest  Territory,  stretching  from  the 
banks  of  our  beautiful  Ohio  away  to  the  base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  was  one  vast 
unbroken  wilderness,  uninhabited  by  civilized  man.  Behold  the  beneficent  results 
of  this  system  of  free  legislation,  of  those  enactments  which  Washington  taught 
us  to  make  for  the  protection  of  American  soil  against  the  ingress  of  any  despotic 
or  crushing  tyranny  whatever.  Behold,  I  say,  its  beneficent  results  within  seven- 
ty years.  Five  great  states,  having  all  the  elements  of  a  great,  elevated  and  en- 
lightened civilization — Ohio,  Wisconsin,  Michigan,  Illinois  and  Indiana — they  are 
the  offspring  of  this  legislation  in  favor  of  freedom. 

Tell  me  whether  Washington  and  his  associates  have  done  wisely  in  taking 
oare  to  secure  by  law  that  territory  for  the  homes  of  the  Free.   (Loud  cheers.) 


13 


Look  at  their  free  schools— look  at  their  churches,  their  free  presses,  their  intelli- 
gence, their  thrifty  population  and  their  happy  homes — all  the  growth  of  seventy 
years.  "Why,  it  is  a  miracle  in  the  history  of  nations.  In  the  despotism  of  the  old 
world,  ages  were  but  as  years  in  national  growth  and  existence  ;  they  can  show 
nothing  like  this.  Nothing  like  it  can  be  shown  since  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter, 
founded  the  first  empire.  A  thousand  years  since  Ruric  founded  that  first  empire, 
in  the  presence  of  which  all  Europe  has  trembled ;  a  thousand  years  have  passed 
since  Charlemagne  wore  his  iron  crown  in  France;  a  thousand  years  have  rolled 
away  since  Alfred  gave  laws  and  manners  to  England;  but  here  in  seventy  years 
has  an  empire  been  founded,  which,  in  all  the  elements  of  a  great,  free  and  inde- 
pendent state,  survives  them  all.    (Loud  cheers.) 

Fellow-citizens,  after  so  brilliant  a  result  as  this,  the  question  is  now  raised  at 
this  late  day,  before  the  American  people,  whether  we  shall  abandon  this  policy 
of  Washington — whether  we  shall  strike  down  this  covenant  in  favor  of  liberty — 
whether  we  shall  blast  that  virgin  territory,  larger  in  extent  than  the  territory  of 
the  thirteen  original  colonies,  with  the  manacled  footsteps  of  the  bondman  ?  ("No, 
no.")  That  is  the  question  this  day  presented.  As  was  well  remarked  by  your  chair- 
man, a  third  of  a  century  ago,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  through  their  repre- 
sentatives, assembled  in  Confess,  in  the  year  1820,  in  imitation  of  the  great  ex- 
ample of  Washington ,  declared  by  law  that  all  that  vast  tract  of  country  lying 
north  of  66th  parallel  of  north  latitude  should  be  forever  free;  that  no  man  should, 
in  all  coming  time  be  deprived  of  life  or  liberty,  or  property  throughout  that  vast 
domain  except  by  due  process  of  law  as  a  punishment  for  crime  upon  due  convic- 
tion. That  was  the  law,  and  it  continued  to  be  the  law  for  a  period  of  thirty- 
three  years ;  but  strange  to  say,  in  these  latter  times  a  man  came  before  the  peo- 
ple— a  very  remarkable  man.  gifted  with  a  mighty  and  stupendous  intellect,  in 
the  presence  of  whom  I  cannot  but  bow  with  homage,  and  who  has  since  been 
gathered  to  his  fathers.  This  great  man,  when  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States,  took  it  into  his  mind  that  he  would  bend  the  Constitution,  the  principles 
of  which,  in  the  language  of  Washington,  were  perfectly  free — bend  that  im- 
mortal instrument  to  the  business  of  perpetuating  and  extending  the  system  of 
domestic  slavery.  1  speak  of  Mr.  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina.  There  was  a  tract 
of  territory  four  times  the  size  of  New  York  carved  out  of  the  Empire  of  Mex- 
ico known  as  the  state  of  Texas,  conquered  by  certain  men  who  went  there  chiefly 
to  establish  the  system  of  African  slavery.  They  opened  a  new  market  for  the 
slaves  of  Virginia.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  had  recognized  the 
principle  that  slavery  was  purely  local.  All  the  judges,  including  Chief  Justice 
Taney,  with  but  one  exception,  decided  that  the  institution  was  entirely  and  alto- 
gether local,  and  depended  for  its  existence  upon  territorial  authority.  The  case 
was  this :  The  state  of  Mississippi,  by  its  amended  constitution,  had  provided  that 
slaves  brought  from  neighboring  states  for  sale,  should  be  confiscated.  After  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  what  was  left  for  these  gentlemen  but  to  conquer 
new  territories?  for  slavery  was  interdicted  in  the  territories  then  unoccupied  by  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  though  Missouri,  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  and  Florida  had 
been  admitted.  What  other  way  was  left  them  to  dispose  of  their  surplus  proper- 
ty ?  Mr.  Calhoun  said  the  empire  of  slavery  must  be  extended  under  the  Ameri- 
can flag  and  under  the  national  arm. 

As  Secretary  of  State  under  John  Tyler — a  man  whom  I  believe,  Mr.  President, 
you  were  not  guilty  of  voting  for — (laughter) — though  I  was,  and  I  am  sorry  for 
it,  misfortunes  do  make  strange  bed-fellows  for  all  of  us — (renewed  laughter) — I 
say  that  when  the  question  was  whether  Texas,  which  was  still  struggling  with 
Mexico,  should  be  recognized  by  Great  Britain  as  a  separate  independent  republic 
©n  condition  that  she  should  be  a  free  republic,  or  whether  she  should  be  annexed 
to  the  government  of  the  United  States  as  a  slave  state,  Mr.  Calhoun  addressed 
letters  to  our  Ministers  in  France  and  England,  asking  them  to  have  France  inter- 
pose in  the  recognition  of  Texas  as  a  free  sovereignty,  and  telling  them  frankly  as 
the  reason  why  that  she  must  be  annexed  to  the  United  States,  and  that  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  domestic  institution  cf  slavery  depended  upon  that  annexation. 
That  was  the  proposition. 

What  then  took  place  ?  The  heart  of  the  whole  North  revolted  at  the  proposed 
sacrilege — at  the  attempt  to  lend  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  any  such 
unhallowed  work.  That  old  man  eloquent  who  stood  sentinel  in  the  cause  of  free- 
dom, lifted  his  voice  like  a  trumpet  against  the  proposed  treason.   (Cheers.)  The 


heart  of  the  nation  responded.  Mr.  Van  Buren  addressed  a  powerful  and  thrilling 
appeal  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  against  that  profound  iniquity,  and  the 
great  heart  of  the  democracy  of  the  North  responded  to  the  appeal.  The  great 
patriotic  man  of  Kentucky,  Henry  Clay,  joined  with  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  John 
Quincy  Adams  in  the  denunciation  of  the  treason,  and  I  believe  that  the  legislative 
assemblies  of  every  free  state  in  the  North  sent  protests  against  it.  Yet  strange 
to  say,  it  was  consummated. 

Behold  the  power  of  this  despotic  oligarchy  of  the  South  that  has  been  ruling 
the  freemen  of  the  North  during  the  past  generations.  The  free  press  of  the 
North,  which  had  but  just  spoken  out  in  clear  and  decided  tones  against  that  pro- 
posed act  of  wickedness,  became  suddenly  as  dumb  as  if  the  lightning  of  Damascus 
had  struck  them.  They  opened  not  their  mouth.  The  democratic  party  of  the 
North  and  the  whig  party  of  the  South  were  struck  dumb.  The  democratic  party 
sacrificed  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  the  whig  party  sacrificed  their  immortal  leader, 
Henry  Clay,  because  they  would  not  lend  their  names  to  that  proposed  villainy. 
And  what  was  the  result?  It  was  consummated,  with  this  strange  condition  an- 
nexed, that  four  additional  slave  states  might  be  carved  out  of  that  territory,  which 
should  be  admitted  as  free  or  as  slave  states  as  the  people  therein  might  determine. 

How  was  that  consummation  brought  about  ?  The  House  of  Representatives 
would  not  yield  to  it,  nor  would  the  Senate,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  make 
another  invasion  of  the  Constitution  to  do  it.  First,  the  Constitution  must  be  em- 
ployed to  bring  in  a  foreign  slave  state  to  maintain  an  equilibrium  of  power.  But 
the  treaty-making  power  stood  in  their  way,  In  order  to  pass  a  treaty  of  the 
United  States  it  was  necessary  that  it  should  have  the  assent  of  two-thirds  of  the 
Senate.  And  although  they  were  ready  to  do  almost  anything,  they  could  not  per- 
suade themselves  to  do  this,  and  they  could  not  get  a  two-thirds  vote.  So  they 
dropped  the  treaty-making  power  and  passed  a  joint  resolution  by  a  majority,  and 
thereby  a  treaty  wras  made  which  Mr.  Pierce  calls  a  compact.  It  was  consum- 
mated without  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Senate,  and  at  no  subsequent  time  has  it 
ever  been  ratified.  Then  comes  the  second  step.  They  have  got  Texas,  with  four 
slave  states,  and  now  down  comes  the  eighth  section  of  the  act  of  1820,  which  ex- 
cluded slavery  from  the  Territory  of  Kansas. 

In  the  democratic  organ  of  the  administration  (not  the  organ  of  the  democratic 
masses)  at  Washington  tells  us  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  no  right 
to  intervene.  The  doctrine  is  non-intervention  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  with  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  territories,  nor  have  they  any 
right  to  interfere  by  the  emigration  of  men  to  it ;  in  short,  that  slavery  must  go 
into  the  territories  of  the  Union.  Who  is  it  who  undertakes  to  pass  any  such  dic- 
tum ?  The  leader  of  this  assault  upon  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  upon  the  in- 
terests of  millions  who  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights,  is  Stephen  A.  Douglas. 
But  try  him  by  the  record.  In  1844  that  man  was  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  he  voted  tor  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  Oregon.  He  thought  then  that  it 
was  perfectly  constitutional  to  prohibit  slavery  from  that  territory ;  and  he  took 
care  to  incorporate  in  the  resolution  the  provision  that  all  that  portion  of  Texas 
lying  north  of  the  3Gth  parallel  of  latitude  should  be  forever  free.  These  attempts 
on  the  part  of  bankrupts  in  politics  and  bankrupts  in  morals,  to  bend  the  Constitu- 
tion to  their  unhallowed  purposes,  will  only  result  in  a  political  damnation,  com- 
plete and  irretrievable.  These  base  attempts  will  fail,  if  the  people  are  only  true 
to  themselves,  and  their  past  history.  The  people,  I  feel  confident  in  saying,  will 
never  consent  that  this  now  free  territory  which  was  bequeathed  to  them,  to  their 
children,  and  to  their  children's  children,  shall  ever  be  desecrated  by  that  most  in- 
human curse,  which  has  already  blighted  so  large  a  poi  tion  of  our  fair  land.  The 
man  who  shall  persistently  attempt  to  deliver  it  up  to  the  merciless  sway  of  the 
slave  oligarchy,  will  deserve  to  have  his  name  enrolled  in  history  by  the  side  of 
the  traitor  Benedict  Arnold,  and  will  gain  credit  by  the  association. 

Mr.  Bingham  is  evidently  accustomed  to  think  on  his  legs,  and  though  he  followed 
one  who,  while  he  spoke,  had  the  audience  all  to  himself,  it  was  soon  apparent 
that  they  had  transferred  their  attention  and  their  interest  entirely  to  his  successor. 
Mr.  Bingham  spoke  about  an  hour,  and  made  some  capital  points,  to  which  the 
audience  testified  their  lively  appreciation  by  frequent  and  rapturous  applause. 

The  chairman  then  stated  that  the  Hon.  James  Harlan,  United  States  Senator 
from  Iowa,  had  accepted  an  invitation  to  be  present  and  speak  this  evening,  and 
that  intelligence  had  reached  the  committee  of  his  having  left  Washington  oo 


15 


Monday  evening  to  fulfil  his  engagement,  but  that  he  had  not  reported  himself  in 
the  Committee  of  Arrangements.  If  present,  the  chairman  stated  that  the  senator 
would  give  the  audience  great  pleasure  by  taking  the  stand. 

The  Senator,  however,  did  not  appear — to  the  general  disappointment  of  the  au- 
dience, aggravated  to  some  extent  by  the  publicity  given  to  his  name  as  one  of  the 
promised  speakers,  and  the  absence  of  any  explanation  whatever  of  his  failure  to 
attend. 

The  chairman  then  called  upon  General  James  Nye,  who  soon  dispelled  the  feel- 
ing of  disappointment  which  prevailed  at  the  moment  among  the  body  of  his 
hearers. 

Before  the  General  commenced — it  being  already  half-past  ten  o'clock — Mr. 
Butler  requested  Moses  H.  Grinnell,  the  first  vice-president,  to  take  the  chair,  and 
be  retired.    The  orator  then  proceeded  as  follows : 

GESERAL   NYE'S  SPEECH. 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow-Citizens  :  I  do  not  know  what  to  say.  (Laughter.)  It 
*eems  to  me  that  all  has  been  said  that  is  necessary,  to  arouse  us  individually  and 
collectively  to  a  proper  sense  of  our  individual  and  collective  duty  in  this  coming 
contest.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  classic  Evarts  and  the  eloquent  and  distinguished 
gentleman  from  Ohio  (loud  applause)  have  said  enough  for  one  time.  Now,  me 
you  have  always  with  you  (laughler,)  and  therefore  I  think  you  hid  better  excuse 
me,  and  go  home  on  the  feast  you  have  already  enjoyed.  It  would  suit  me  much 
better. 

The  problem  of  human  government  is  being  worked  out  the  world  over.  It  is 
not  only  in  this  favored  land  that  political  revolutions  are  being  wrought ;  they  are 
world  wide.  Throughout  the  regions  where  emperors  hold  their  sway  and  abso- 
lute and  limited  monarchs  rule,  there  seems  to  be  an  upheaving,  political  or  other- 
wise. It  seems  to  me  that  the  day  is  rapidly  approaching  when  an  independent 
people  are  to  take  the  reigns  of  government  in  their  own  hands.  (Applause.)  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  day  has  come,  when  you  and  I  can  say  we  are  in  favor  of  free 
territory  for  free  men,  without  subjecting  ourselves  to  excommunication  from  any 
party. 

I  lighted  my  youthful  democratic  taper  at  the  full  lighted  and  blazing  lamp  of 
the  distinguished  gentleman  who  sits  here,  (Wm.  C.  Bryant.)  I  believed  then  as 
he  believed  then,  and  I  believe  now  as  he  believes,  and  for  that  belief  we  are  an 
excommunicated  people.  I  remember  when  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  now 
occupies  the  chair,  (Mr.  Butler,)  was  a  whig  all  over.  (Laughter.)  I  remember 
when  many  of  his  associates  here  were  whigs  from  the  crown  of  their  heads  to  the 
soles  of  their  feet;  and  now,  because  they,  with  us,  are  in  favor  of  free  territory 
for  free  men,  they  are  excommunicated  from  the  party.  Well,  I  hope  they  will  go 
on  excommunicating  till  there  is  not  a  quorum  in  the  church,  nor  a  solitary  high- 
priest  left  to  perform  the  ceremony.  (Laughter.) 

I  believe  this  intelligent  audience  is  all  excommunicated.  (Renewed  laughter.) 
There  is,  therefore,  a  stern  necessity  that  we  should  form  a  new  political  church — 
new  in  its  organization,  but  old  as  our  fathers  in  principle.  We  tread  upon  the 
same  ground  our  fathers  trod  upon,  and  preach  the  same  doctrine  they  preached, 
and  we  are  stigmatized  for  so  doing.  •  Principles  that  then  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  whole  world  are  ours,  and  for  them  we  are  denounced  as  Black  Republicans. 
Well !  if  you  mean  by  Black  Republican  a  man  who  loves  freedom  better  than 
slavery,  I  plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  (Applause.)  If  you  mean  by  Black  Re- 
publican one  who  does  not  stifle  the  honest  sentiment  of  his  heart,  I  plead  guilty 
to  the  charge.  If  you  mean  that  we  are  determined  to  wrench  from  the  grasp  of 
Blavery  propagandists  territory  which  was  once  consecrated  to  freedom  forever,  I 
plead  guilty  to  the  charge.  If  you  mean  that  our  hearts  swell  with  sympathy  for 
the  brave  spirits  who  are  striving  on  the  soil  of  Kansas  to  plant  the  seeds  of  human 
liberty,  I  plead  a  thousand  times  guilty,  and  thank  God  we  are  called  Black  Re- 
publicans. (Cheers  and  loud  applause.)  I  care  not  what  they  call  us  ;  the  great 
question  to  be  determined  is,  have  we  a  full  consciousness  that  we  are  doing  right? 

But  it  is  not  strange,  it  is  not  unphilosophical,  that  the  throes  of  dying  men  should 
be  the  strongest.  It  is  to  be  expected  that  we  should  receive  our  full  share  of 
abuse  from  those  whom  we  labored  to  save,  but  I  do  not  despair  even  of  them.  I 
remember  where  a  man,  who  veritably  believed  he  was  doing  God  service,  had  a 
light  flash  upon  him,  and  when  blinded  with  its  brightness,  he  saw  that  he  was  in 


10 


the  wrong.  I  expect  they  will  turn  the  scales  from  their  eyes,  too,  when  the  places 
they  now  fill  are  rilled  by  others.  (Applause.)  The  eloquent  gentleman  from  Ohio 
(cheers)  has  told  you  that  John  Milton  in  his  blindness  saw  these  political  truths, 
and  if  he  had  not  been  blind  his  head  would  have  gone  to  the  block  to  answer  for 
it.  It  was  the  same  truth  that  brought  Sidney's  head  to  the  block,  and  the  axeman 
told  him  he  might  have  a  few  moments  yet  to  live,  if  he  would  use  them  to  tell  the 
people  not  to  imbibe  his  principles,  but  he  said  to  the  axeman,  "  Strike!  Sidney 
will  never  rise  again  till  the  resurrection."  (Applause.) 

We  want  a  few  Sidneys  now — men  who  are  bold  enough  to  make  martyrs  for 
political  truth.  What  a  strange  thing  it  is  that  we,  now  in  the  noonday  of  the  1 9th 
century,  are  called  upon  to  declare  and  defend  principles  that  drew  every  sword  in 
the  Revolution.  How  strange,  where  there  is  not  one  who  has  not  tasted  the  sweets 
of  freedom,  that  we  should  have  to  stand  here  and  invoke  attention  to  those  sacred 
and  immutable  principles  which  were  the  pride  and  glory  of  our  fathers ! 

Young  men,  I  call  upon  you  ;  your  hands  are  almost  upon  the  reigns  of  the  State, 
and  you  will  soon  be  called  upon  to  participate  in  the  administration  of  govern- 
ment. Be  true  to  the  faith  professed  by  the  great  men  of  the  revolution,  and  stand 
by  it  whatever  may  betide.  If  there  is  a  young  man  here  who  is  willing  to  prove 
derelict  to  his  duty,  let  him  stand  up  ;  I  want  to  see  him  and  have  his  daguerreo- 
type taken  in  my  mind.  (Laughter.)  I  knew  there  was  none  such  here.  Old  men, 
where  are  you?  Are  you  afraid  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union?  (Voices,  "No," 
"no.")  Young  men,  are  you ?  ("No.)  Well,  you  see,  we  are  all  Republicans — so 
it  is  best  to  receive  the  benediction  and  go  home.  (Applause.  Voices,  "  Go  on," 
"  go  on.") 

Well,  I  will  tell  you  something  of  the  Republican  platform.  It  is  very  simple — 
the  most  simple  platform  I  have  ever  seen — it  declares  for  freedom  everywhere,  and 
will  not  take  anything  else.  Now,  if  there  is  any  one  who  is  not  in  favor  of  this, 
let  him  rise.  There  is  none.  I  believe  no  government  can  prosper  where  labor  is 
not  ennobled,  for  who  is  there  here  that  would  wish  to  labor  side  by  side  with  slaves 
and  chatties  ?  None. 

Now,  I  will  tell  you  another  thing.  I  was  laboring  away  in  a  political  tour 
through  the  country  last  fall,  and  I  talked  with  the  people,  and  thought  everybody 
was  Republican,  but  when  I  came  here  I  learned  there  were  only  5,000  Republican 
votes  cast  in  the  city  of  New  York.  (A  voice,  "That  was  last  year.")  Well,  will 
we  poll  any  less  than  than  five  times  five  thousand  next  time?  (Voice,  " No.") 
Then  New  York  will  be  itself  again.  In  every  place  I  see  people  moved  by  the 
same  principles. 

I  ask  you  to  see  that  the  city  of  New  York  does  her  duty.  Let  her  declare  for 
freedom,  and  all  the  little  cities  around  will  join  in  and  swell  the  universal  strain 
for  freedom.  (Applause.)  But  in  order  to  do  this,  we  must  form  ourselves  into  a 
committee  of  the  whole,  and  work.  If  you  have  a  neighbor  unsound,  go  to  him,  and 
remember  milk  for  babes — give  him  milk  first,  he  will  soon  get  strong  enough  to 
eat  meat.  And  I  invoke  from  the  poet,  (Wm.  G.  Bryant,)  the  genius  of  poetry; 
for  what  nobler  anthem  can  he  strike  than  for  libert}?  ?  (Applause.) 

Gen.  Nye  then  moved  the  following  resolutions : 

RESOLUTIONS. 

Resolved,  That  the  repeal  of  the  "  Missouri  Compromise,"  the  wanton  renewal  of  the  political  agi- 
tation of  the  slavery  question,  the  enlistment  of  the  whole  power  of  the  federal  government  in  the 
extension  of  slavery  over  territory  devoted  by  the  most  solemn  pledge  and  compact  to  freedom,  the 
countenance  and  protection  given  by  the  Executive  of  the  Union  to  the  violent  and  cruel  tyranny 
established  over  the  defenceless  inhabitants  of  Kansas  by  the  lawless  population  on  its  borders,  and 
the  audacious  claim  that  the  federal  constitution  is  the  charter,  and  the  federal  government  should  be 
the  minister,  of  the  maintenance  and  diffusion  of  slavery  as  a  national  institution,  have  forced  upon  the 
country  the  issue  of  slavery-extension  or  slavery-restriction  for  decision  in  the  impending  Presidential 
canvass. 

Resolved,  That  our  unalterable  attachment  to  the  great  sentiments  of  justice  and  freedom  which 
inspired  the  Declaration  of  our  Independence  and  are  wrought  into  the  whole  fabric  of  our  Constitution, 
«tyr  faithful  devotion  to  the  dignity,  integrity,  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Union,  our  reverence  for 
the  memory  of  the  founders  of  the  magnificent  system  of  government  which  has  developed  and  pro- 
tected the  vast  growth  of  this  people  to  its  present  rank  among  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  of  the 
great  statesmen  of  the  succeeding  generation  who  have  so  firmly  upheld  what  was  ao  wisely  estab- 
lished, compel  us  to  postpone  all  other  political  questions,  to  forget  all  past  political  differences,  and 
to  unite  for  the  restoration  of  the  action  and  position  of  the  federal  government  on  the  subject  o' 
■lavery  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  as  alone  compatible  with  the  honor  and  safetr 
of  the  republic. 


17 


Resolved,  That  we  have  heard  with  great  satisfaction,  and  sustain  with  a  cordial  approval,  the 
proceedings  of  the  Pittsburgh  Convention,  and  avow  the  purpose  ourselves  to  unite,  and  by  every  just 
influence  to  combine  the  efforts  of  our  fellow-citisens  for  the  organized  maintenance,  in  the  approach- 
ing Presidental  canvass,  of  the  political  principles  and  objects  proposed  by  that  convention. 

Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  five,  to  be  nominated  by  the  chairman  of  this  meeting,  be  appointed 
to  act  as  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Republican  party  of  the  city  ot  New  York. 

Resolved,  That  the  Republican  committees  or  associations  of  the  several  wards,  in  which  they  have 
been  formed,  be  requested  to  report  to  the  Executive  Committee  the  names  of  their  officers  and  the 
system  of  their  organization,  and  that  the  wards  in  which  no  such  committees  or  associations  exist  be 
requested  to  proceed,  without  delay,  to  complete  their  organization,  and  to  report  the  same  to  the 
Executive  Committee. 

Resolved,  That  the  ward  committees  or  associations  be  requested  to  appoint  two  representatives 
each,  to  meet  the  Executive  Committee  in  Convention,  at  such  time  and  place  as  it  may  designate,  for 
the  election  of  delegates  to  the  Republican  State  Convention,  to  be  held  at  Syracuse,  on  the  23ih 
May  next. 

The  resolutions  were  then  adopted  with  acclamation. 

Loud  calls  were  now  made  from  all  parts  of  the  house  for  Greely,  who  finally 
appeared,  and  was  received  with  loud  and  prolonged  cheers.    He  said : 

SPEECH  OF   HORACE  GREELY. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  fellow-citizens, — -There  are  other  gentlemen  present  this  even- 
ing who  are  expected  to  address  you,  and  all  I  will  venture  to  say,  not  being  an 
invited  speaker,  will  be  comprised  in  five  minutes.  And  what  I  shall  say  is  this : 
Let  us  make  the  issue  on  which  we  go  to  the  people,  during  this  campaign,  as  direct, 
simple  and  practical  as  possible.  That  issue  we  have  in  the  Kansas  question. 
•(Applause.)  We  have  in  Kansas  a  people  oppressed  under  a  foreign  arm,  and 
under  the  pretence  of  popular  sovereignty.  We  have  a  young  community  knocking 
for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  free  state,  and  their  memorial  to  Congress  is 
kicked  out  of  the  Senate  as  if  the  people  had  no  right  to  be  represented  there.  We 
have  three-quarters  of  her  people  in  favor  of  a  free  state,  and  if  they  appeal  to 
"Congress  their  appeal  must  go  to  the  people.  They  ask  for  admission  into  the 
Union — they  appeal  for  protection  against  foreign  invasion — for  protection  against 
violence  and  oppression — for  protection  against  the  false  and  treacherous  officers  of 
the  government,  placed  over  them  ostensibly  to  protect  them,  but  who  are  in  league 
with  their  oppressors  in  crowding  upon  them  a  system  of  slavery. 

Now,  upon  such  an  issue  as  this,  we  can  appeal  with  irresistible  power  to  the 
people.  I  would  therefore  leave  hereafters  to  be  hereafters — future  is  not  to  be 
future  issues — and  make  as  fully  as  we  may  the  Kansas  question  the  great  issue.  I 
would  make  it  the  sole  issue  in  the  election.  Shall  Kansas  be  a  free  Slate?  That  is  a 
question  which  all  men  can  appreciate.  We  already  have  the  evidences  of  her  desire 
to  come  among  us  with  her  free  constitution;  and  let  us  see  who  they  are  that 
would  drive  her  back  from  the  halls  of  Congress — who  disregared  her  appeals,  and 
by  quibbles  seek  to  keep  her  out  till  they  can  reduce  her  to  slavery  !  Let  us  make 
this  the  issue ;  and  flood  every  cabin  and  public  place  in  the  Union  with  our 
appeals,  our  facts,  our  arguments  and  our  documents,  in  favor  of  her  admission. 
Let  us  resolve  that  no  question  more  vague,  abstruse  and  indirect,  shall  be  promin- 
ent with  us,  till  this  is  settled  ;  and  that  with  every  nerve,  we  will  strive  to  make 
Kansas  a  free  state.    After  that  we  can  argue  other  questions. 

William  Curtis  Noyes,  in  response  to  the  general  call  of  the  audience  and  the 
request  of  the  Chairman,  now  came  forward.  Though  it  was  after  eleven  o'clock, 
his  brief  remarks  were  listened  to  with  attention,  and  received  with  much  enthusiasm. 
He  said : 

SPEECH  OP  WILIilAM  CURTIS  JVOYES. 

I  should  abuse  your  intelligence  if  I  undertook  to  address  you  at  any  length 
to-night. 

I  hope  you  will  not  feel  flatteied  if  I  tell  you  that  this  meeting  is  strangely  com- 
posed ;  it  is  a  kind  of  conglomeration  of  all  parties.  Here  are  soft-shells,  hard- 
shell democrats,  and  some  who  have  been  supposed  to  be  connected  with 
the  Albany  Regency.  Whigs,  too,  are  here — not  the  fossiliferous  whigs,  (a  laugh,) 
but  whigs  who  live  for  the  present — whigs  of  progress.  Now,  what  has  brought  us 
together  ?  What  has  produced  this  conglomeration  of  men  who  have  never  before 
acted  together  ? 

2 


18 


It  is  because  the  theory  and  practice  of  this  Government,  which  was  the  theory 
and  practice  of  the  revolution,  has  been  perverted,  and  is  attempted  to  be  perverted 
much  more,  into  a  government  for  the  preservation  of  slavery ;  and  if -we  do  not  op- 
pose the  efforts  which  are  being  made  for  this  end  they  will  not  only  make  all  the 
free  territories  slave  territories,  but  they  will  subject  the  free  States  to  slavery. 

South  Carolina  is  now  clamoring  for  the  restoration  of  the  African  slave  trade, 
in  opposition  to  the  wishes  and  practices  of  the  fathers  of  the  revolution,  as  show  n 
here  to-night.  One  of  the  Georgians,  a  State  which  has  been  threatening  disunion 
ever  since  I  can  remember,  has  boasted  that  he  would  yet  call  the  roll  of  his  slaves 
on  Bunker-Hill  Monument. 

They  have  threatened,  too,  that  they  would  bring  their  slaves  into  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  hold  them  under  the  laws  of  Virginia,  and  if  this  is  so,  where  is 
the  freedom  of  the  North  ?  where  is  the  liberty  of  the  white  race !  A  discussion  is 
now  pending  in  the  United  States  Court,  in  which  it  is  contended  that  the  Consti- 
tution carries  slavery  into  the  free  territories  of  the  Union;  if  so,  what  is  to  be- 
come of  the  Constitution  ?  what  is  to  become  of  the  rights  of  the  free  States  ?  whs:t 
is  to  become  of  the  territories  ? 

Now  the  question  is,  whether  you  will  permit  this,  or  whether  you  will  not. 
What  is  your  answer?  shall  it  be  done?  (Voices — ''No!"  "No!")  Then  it  shall, 
not  be  done.  There  in  Kansas,  undoubtedly,  the  great  battle  is  to  be  fought ;  it 
may  be  fought  really ;  possibly  it  may  be  carried  by  the  force  of  public  sentiment, 
or  it  may  be  carried  forcibly  by  fire-arms  and  bloodshed;  but  I  believe  if  it  is,  that 
will  be  owing  to  the  interference  of  the  United  States  forces,  and  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  that  shall  thus  fall  by  an  armed  soldiery  will  again  sow  tha  seed  of  the 
church  to  blossom  for  liberty.  And  when  these  martyrs  are  buried,  we  may  write 
over  their  tomb,  as  was  written  over  the  three  hundred  at  Thermopylae,  "Travel- 
ler, tell  my  countrymen  that  we  lie  here  in  obedience  to  freedom  and  the  constitu- 
tion."   (Loud  and  long  cheers.) 

The  Chairman  then  named  the  following  gentlemen  to  constitute  the  Executive 
Committee,  required  by  the  4th  resolution : 

Isaac  Sherman,  Wm.  Curtis  Noyes, 

Geocge  W.  Blunt,  John  P.  Cumming, 

Chaiiles  W.  Elliot. 

The  Chairman  announced  that  a  large  number  of  letters  had  been  received  from 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  country,  but  the  lateness  of  the  hour 
made  it  impracticable  to  read  them  to-night,  but  that  they  would  be  handed  over 
to  the  press  for  publication.  For  the  same  reason,  he  declined  to  invite  any  more 
speakers  to  the  stand;  and  the  meeting  adjourned,  a  little  before  12  o'clock,  with 
three  cheers  for  Bingham,  of  Ohio. 


LETTERS  FROM  AND  TO  THE  COMMITTEE. 

The  invitation  of  the  committee  and  a  portion  of  the  responses,  referred  to  by 
the  chairman,  were  as  follows  : 

Invitation  of  tlie  Committee. 

New  Yoek,  April  5th,  1856. 
Sir:  You  are  respectfully  requested  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  New 
York  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  present  administration  for  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery  over  territory  embraced  within  the  compact  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  in  favor  of  restoring  the  action  and  position  of  the  federal  government 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  to  be  held 
at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  on  Wednesday,  the  23d  day  of  April  next,  at  7|  p.  m. 

The  meeting  is  expected  to  represent  the  patriotism,  intelligence  and  wealth  of 
the  metropolis;  and  we  indulge  the  hope  that  it  will  be  agreeable  to'  you  to  lend 
the  interest  of  your  presence  on  the  occasion. 

Yours  respectfully, 
E.  D.  Morgan,  C.  C.  Leigh, 

Anthony  J.  Bleecker,         John  Bigelow, 
Wm.  M.  Evarts. 


19 


From  Senator  Trumbull,  of  Illinois. 

Washington,  April  26,  1856. 
Geutlemen  :  Public  duties  here  and  other  engagements,  will  prevent  my  attend 
ing  the  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  to  be  held  on  the  29th  inst.  My 
sympathies  are  with  those  who  desire  to  see  the  federal  government  administered 
upon  the  principles  enunciated  by  its  founders  ;  and  it  would  seem  to  me,  that  all 
men  who  love  the  Union  and  wish  its  preservation,  ought  to  unite  to  wrest  the 
power  and  influence  of  the  general  government  from  the  hands  of  those  who  are 
now  prostituting  them  to  the  purposes  of  slavery  extension. 

Very  respectfully,  Lyman  Trumbull. 


From  the  Hon.  S.  Galloway,  of  Ohio. 

Washington  April  26,  1856. 

Dear  Sir:  I  regret  exceedingly  that  I  cannot  gratify  my  wishes,  and  meet  your 
expectations,  by  attending  your  contemplated  meeting  on  the  29th.  In  the  judg- 
ment of  friends  (whom  I  have  consulted  as  to  the  question  of  duty)  it  would  be  un- 
wise for  me  to  go,  in  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
especially  a3  my  vote  could  not  be  protected  in  my  absence. 

It  is  well  known  by  those  who  know  my  position  as  a  member  of  this  House,  that 
I  cordially  concur  in  principles  and  sentiments  with  those  who  will  participate  in 
your  meeting,  and  hence  I  can  safely  say  that  I  shall  be  with  you  in  spirit,  though 
absent  in  body.  That  your  meeting  may  be  crowned  with  the  best  results,  and 
that  a  movement  may  be  initiated  in  your  city,  which  will  expand  until  the  Em- 
pire State,  on  account  of  its  impassioned  devotion  to  the  great  cause  of  freedom, 
shall  appropriately  lead  the  advancing  and  increasing  host  of  the  opponents  of  slav- 
ery, is  my  sincere  wish. 

Respectfully,  Sami  cl  Galloway. 

E.  D.  Morgan,  New  York. 

From  3Ir.  Fessenden. 

Poetland,  April  27,  1856. 
Dear  Sir :  Mr.  W.  P.  Fessenden  has  requested  me  to  express  to  you  his  thanks 
for  your  invitation  for  the  29th  instant,  and  his  regrets  for  being  compelled  to 
decline  it.  S  ince  his  return  from  Washington,  he  lias  been  confined  to  his  house  by 
illness,  and  on  that  account  will  be  unable  to  give  himself  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
your  committee  ou  the  29th. 

Very  respectfully, 

Hon.  E.  D.  Morgan.  James  D.  Fkssehden. 


lietter  from  the  Hon.  IV.    P.  Banks,   Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

City  of  Washington,  28th  April,  1856. 
Geutlemen:  The  city  of  New  York  has,  if  possible,  a  deeper  interest  in  reversing 
the  new  policy  of  the  federal  government  upon  the  question  of  slavery  than  other 
and  less  favored  portions  of  this  county.  New  York  thrives  most  when  the 
material  prosperity  of  the  North  American  continent  is  greatest.  It  suffers  by  ex- 
haustion of  the  soil  or  the  enterprise  of  even  the  most  distant  part  of  the  Union.  It 
is  a  just  guage  of  national  prosperity.  Her  busy  streets,  crowded  docks,  and 
extended  territory,  are  so  many  proofs  of  the  increasing  enterprise,  inventive  power 
and  intellect  of  the  American  people.  I  am  not  surprised,  therefore,  that  her  citi- 
zens, in  their  *  wealth  and  intelligence,"  as  you  are  pleased  to  saw  should  assemble, 
in  a  crisis  like  the  present,  to  utter  an  indignant  protest  against  a  systematic  and 
apparently  determined  effort — not  merely,  as  it  is  said,  to  secure  to  slavery  that 
degree  of  protection  to  which  it  may  lay 'claim  by  virtue  of  constitutions  and  com- 
promises— but  to  give  it  an  absolute,  dominant  control  over  all  other  interests  of  the 
people,  and  all  other  objects  of  government.  Such  a  policy  tends  less  to  protect 
slavery  than  to  repress,  enervate  and  destroy  other  and  greater  interests.  It  is 
inconsistent  with  the  views,  objects  and  acts  of  the  framer3  of  the  government.  It 
eannot  succeed  but  by  erasing  and  destroying  their  ancient  landmarks.  It  sifts  from 
the  purposes  of  government  all  its  higher  elements  of  equality,  justice  and  liberty  ; 


20 


it  represses  efforts  to  elevate  the  condition  of  men,  through  the  intervention  of  suc- 
cessful industry,  of  the  arts,  of  science,  of  wealth,  of  literature,  and  of  all  the  chief 
agents  of  civilization.  It  is  a  policy  that  finds  no  exponent  in  the  conservative 
statesmen  of  the  best  days  of  the  republic,  and  blindly  hopes,  now,  for  an  opportu- 
nity to  prolong  its  sudden  and  fitful  existence  through  the  indifference  and  dissen- 
sions of  the  higher  interests  of  the  country.  It  must  be  a  cause  of  general  congratu- 
lation that  the  City  of  Commerce  has  taken  measures  to  interpose  a  negative  to  this 
line  of  policy,  and  to  repudiate  its  advocates.  I  could  promise  myself  no  higher 
pleasure,  gentlemen,  than  to  participate  in  your  deliberations,  and  to  add  my  word 
of  approval.  I  should  be  glad  to  be  numbered  among  those  who  are  authorized  to 
announce,  with  emphasis,  that  New  York,  the  Empire  City,  holds  as  heresy  the  new 
and  dangerous  doctrine,  that  the  Constitution  carries  slavery  wherever  it  goes,  and 
demands  its  extension  to  territories  where  it  was  expressly  prohibited  by  the  great 
men  of  other  days.  Other  duties,  however,  will  deprive  me  of  this  pleasure,  and  I 
can  only  express  my  hearty  concurrence  in  the  objects  of  your  meeting,  and  an  earn- 
est hope  for  the  immediate  success  of  your  principles  and  purposes. 

I  am,  very  truly,  your  obedient  servant, 

N.  B.  Banks,  Jr. 


JLetter  from  tne  Bon.  W.  II.  Seward. 

Washington,  April  12,  1856. 
Gentlemen :  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your  kind  invitation  to  the  meeting  of  the 
citizens  of  New  York,  to  be  held  on  the  29th  instant.     I  can,  however,  hardly 
indulge  a  hope  that  my  engagements  here  will  permit  me  to  be  with  you  on  that 
interesting  occasion. 

Every  compromise  with  slavery  hitherto  made  has  only  tended  in  its  results  to 
render  the  problem  of  its  present  limitation  and  ultimate  removal  more  complicated 
and  embarrassing.  Concessions  made  to  obtain  peace  have  produced  disorder. 
Stipulations  made  to  suppress  debate  have  resulted  in  aggression  and  violence. 
Well  assured  myself  that  the  problem  will  find  a  solution  all  the  safer  the  more 
speedily  the  evils  of  slavery  extension  are  understood,  I  rejoice  in  the  many  indica- 
tions of  a  general  awakening  of  the  public  mind  to  that  subject,  and  await  with 
patience  its  ultimate  decision. 

I  am,  gentleman, 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

William  H.  Sewarii. 

From  Senator  Snmuer,  of  Massachusetts. 

Senate  Chamber,  28th  April,  1856. 

Do.arSir:  I  cannot  be  at  your  proposed  meeting,  where  are  to  assemble  the 
patriotism,  intelligence  and  wealth  of  the  metropolis;  but  I  recognise  its  import- 
ance, and  cry  to  it  God  speed  1 

The  work  before  us  is  plain.  Kansas  must  be  saved  from  a  tyrannical  usurpa- 
tion, under  which  slavery  has  been  forcibly  established  on  free  soil.  This  is  the 
special  object  of  exertion  to  which  we  are  summoned,  by  every  consideration  of  regard 
for  that  distant  territory,  and  also  by  every  sentiment  of  love  for  our  common  country. 
But  this  can  be  done  only  by  her  immediate  admission  into  the  Uuion,  under  her 
present  constitution  as  a  free  state — of  course  without  any  recognition  of  the 
usurpation.    Upon  this  we  must  insist  as  the  essential  means  to  the  end. 

In  achieving  this  result,  an  incidental  good  will  be  accomplished,  which  of  itself 
should  tempt  us  to  any  exertion.  The  slave  oligarchy  has  staked  its  power  in  the 
Federal  Government  upon  the  support  of  this  usurpation.  In  the  madness  of  its 
tyranny,  it  has  selected  a  position  the  least  tenable  of  all  its  assumptions.  To  dis- 
lodge it  from  this  position,  and  at  the  same  time  from  its  disgusting  supremacy  in 
the  Federal  Government,  will  be  one  and  the  same  work.  And  all  this  will  be 
easy  to  do,  if  the  good  people  of  the  populous  North,  forgetting  past  differences, 
will  only  rally  together.  Union  to  save  Kansas,  and  Union  to  save  ourselves,  should 
be  the  watchword. 

Believe  me,  dear  sir,  very  faithfully  yours, 

Charles  Sumner. 


better  from  William  C.  Bryant. 

New  York;  April  28th,  1856. 
Gentlemen  :  It  may  not  be  in  my  power  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  at  which 
yon  have  done  me  the  honor  to  request  my  attendance,  but  I  fully  agree  with  you 
as  to  the  importance  of  a  combined  effort  to  assert  the  rights  of  the  great  body  of 
American  citizens  against  the  encroachments  of  an  oligarchy — a  class  of  proprie- 
tors who  seek  to  subject  all  other  interests,  even  the  most  sacred  and  dear,  to  their 
own. 

Even  if  the  question  were  merely  whether  we  should  standby  our  old  neighbors, 
— our  friends  and  kinsmen,  who  have  lately  left  us  for  a  new  home  west  of  Missou- 
ri,— the  occasion  would  be  a  fitting  one  to  call  forth  all  our  zeal  and  unite  all  our 
strength.  If  we  desert  them  in  their  hour  of  need,  we  shall  be  justly  branded  as 
cold-hearted,  selfish  and  cowardly.  No  nation  in  the  history  of  the  world  was  ever 
so  faithless  to  the  obligations  of  humanity  as  to  be  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  the 
colonies  it  had  planted.  With  the  republics  of  antiquity  it  was  a  matter  of  course 
to  answer  the  calls  of  their  colonies  with  instant  sympathy  and  aid.  England 
would  cover  herself  with  infamy,  if  she  were  to  allow  one  of  her  colonies,  appeal- 
ing to  her  for  protection,  to  be  brought  by  force  under  the  sway  of  an  absolute  go- 
vernment. In  the  present  case,  the  call  made  upon  us  is  for  a  species  of  succor 
which  will  cost  us  no  sacrifice — the  cheap  and  peaceful  aid  of  our  votes.  The  votes 
of  the  great,  prosperous  and  powerful  North  are  all  that  is  required  to  deliver 
the  settlements  on  the  Kansas  from  the  combination  of  fraud  and  violence  formed 
to  wrest  from  them  their  rights  and  compel  them  to  submit  to  laws  which  their 
representatives  never  enacted.  We  raise  committees,  we  organize  a  system  of 
charity  when  our  benevolence  is  appealed  to  by  the  people  of  a  foreign  country  in 
distress.  Ought  we  to  do  less  for  our  own  countrymen  ?  Let  us  organize  the  en- 
tire region  of  the  free  states,  further  such  aid  as  we  can  obtain  from  the  just  and 
well-disposed  of  the  slaves  states,  into  a  great  association  for  breaking  up  the 
conspiracy  against  the  rights  of  our  countrymen  and  kindred  at  the  West  who  look 
to  us  for  help.  Every  generous  feeling  allies  itself  with  the  sense  of  justice  iu 
favor  of  the  cause  in  which  you  are  engaged. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  with  great  regard,  your  obedient  servant, 

Wm.  C.  Bryant. 


Letter  from  Eon.  E.  F.  Hurlbut,  Late  Judge  of  tlie  Court  of 
Appeals. 

Newport,  Herkimer  County,  New  York,  April  21,  1856. 

Gentlemen  :  I  am  obliged  to  decline  your  flattering  invitation  "  to  attend  a  meet- 
ing of  the  citizens  of  New  York  who  are  opposed  to  the  policy  of  the  present 
national  administration  in  reference  to  the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory  em- 
braced in  the  compact  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  aud  in  favor  of  restoring  the 
action  and  position  of  the  federal  government  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  Washington  and  Jefferson ;"  but  I  agree  with  you  in  desiring  to  correct 
some  of  the  prevailing  errors  in  reference  to  slavery  by  a  recurrence  to  first  prin- 
ciples, and  reaffirming  the  policy  and  sentiments  of  the  great  and  good  founders  of 
the  republic.  They  never  favored  slavery,  not  even  within  the  limits  where  it 
first  existed  ;  much  less  did  they  favor  its  expansion  into  free  territory.  By  them 
it  was  regarded  as  an  evil  to  the  master,  a  wrong  to  the  slave,  and  a  curse  to  the 
soil  which  endured  it ;  and  all  experience  has  shown  the  wisdom  of  this  opinion. 

No  sane  man,  until  he  is  thoroughly  corrupted  by  it,  will  attempt  to  justify 
slavery  ;  the  utmost  he  can  claim  for  it  is,  that  it  be  barely  tolerated  and  endured 
where  it  at  present  unfortunately  exists,  for  a  season — and  this  only  because  uo 
practicable  means  for  its  safe  abolition  have  yet  been  pointed  out. 

It  is  worse  than  folly,  worse  than  madness,  to  expand  the  area  of  slavery.  It 
would  be  perhaps  the  most  decidedly  wicked  and  suicidal  thing  that  this  nation 
could  do.  All  that  the  slave  states  can  expect  from  the  civilized  world  is  toleration 
for  a  limited  time,  to  wit,  until  some  safe  and  practicable  means  for  liberating  their 
slaves  can  be  devised  and  put  in  action.  Till  when,  I  am  not  disposed  to  blame 
the  master  for  his  unhappy  condition.  It  is  not  until  he  becomes  so  mad  as  to  ad- 
mire his  present  state — to  boast  it — to  attempt  to  justify  it  by  reason — to  fortify 


:>2 


it,  by  revelation — and  even  to  wish  others  to  become  as  he  is,  including  "  these 
bonds" — that  I  feel  authorized  to  blame  and  to  oppose  him. 

So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  he  may  continue  to  languish  in  a  state  of  dependence 
worse  than  slavery  on  soil  now  tainted  with  that  curse;  but  he  must  be  so  modest 
as  not  to  seek  its  expansion  ;  he  must  not  permit  an  abnormal  love  of  his  diseased 
condition  to  prompt  him  to  make  efforts  for  its  further  dissemination;  in  a  word, 
slavery  must  not  seek  to  occupy  one  square  foot  of  soil  which  is  now  free,  and  this 
for  the  sake  of  the  white  man,  the  negro,  and  the  soil  itself.  I  say,  for  the  sake 
of  the  white  man — for  to  him  it  is  the  greatest  curse.  Witness  the  slow  advances 
in  civilization  made  by  the  slave  states,  and  the  rapid  sinking  of  the  sense  of  right 
under  the  influence  of  slavery — so  that  the  grandchildren  of  the  noblest  apostles 
of  human  freedom  have  become  the  base  advocates  of  the  justice  and  policy  of 
slavery.  I  say,  for  the  sake  of  the  negro  also — because  he  is  poor,  weak  and  hum- 
b  le — and  I  would  do  him  no  wrong.  He  is  a  man — with  the  rights  of  a  man — and 
I  am  bound  to  respect  his  rights.  And  for  the  sake  of  the  sod,  moreover — because 
I  would  have  so  much  justice  done  to  that — as  that  it  should  be  tilled  by  interestc  d 
and  skillful  laborers — who  should  be  in  turn  rewarded  by  its  ample  fruits  for  all 
their  toils. 

I  will  not  prolong  this  letter — but  I  beg  to  add,  that  I  feel  as  much  at  liberty  to 
condemn  the  policy  of  the  present  administration  on  the  subject  of  slavery  as  if  I 
had  not  contributed  (as  I  did)  by  my  vote  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Pierce  to  the  Pre- 
sidency ;  and  that  I  am  not  in  any  sense  an  "  abolitionist,"  having  nothing  to  pro- 
pose on  the  subject  of  the  abolition  of  slavery;  nor  am  I  a  "negro  worshipper," 
since  I  worship  no  man — not  even,  as  some  seem  to  do  the  negro's  master — who  in 
general  I  esteem  to  be  the  better  man  of  the  two.  Still  I  think  both  are  more  en- 
titled to  be  pitied-  than  "  worshipped."  But  I  would  simply  and  merely  prevent 
the  extension  of  slavery  over  soil  now  free — and  so  earnestly  would  I  do  this,  that 
nothing — no.  not  even  the  bonds  of  our  National  Union,  should  be  held  more  sa- 
cred than  "  free  soil,"  where  it  is  now  free. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

E.  P.  Huelbut. 


Letter  from  XI on.  F.  E.  Spinner. 

At  Willaiid's,  "Washington,  ) 
Saturday,  April  12,  1856.  ) 
Gentlemen:  Your  note  inviting  my  attendance  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  at  the 
Tabernacle,  in  New  York,  on  the  2Uth  inst.,  "in  favor  of  restoring  the  action  and 
position  of  the  General  Government  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  principles  of 
Washington  aud  Jefferson,"  has  been  received. 

I  not  only  sympathize  with  you,  but  shall  feel  it  my  duty  to  co-operate  with 
you  in  every  practical  way ;  but  much  as  I  desire  to  do  so,  my  duties  here  in  the 
same  cause  will  preclude  me  from  the  pleasure  of  attending  in  person. 
I  am,  gentlemen,  very  respectfully  yours, 

F.  E.  Spinner. 


tetter  from  Hon.  II.  W.  Taylor. 

Canandaigua,  April  27,  185G. 

Gentlemen :  It  would  afford  me  great  satisfaction  to  be  able  to  meet  you  per- 
sonally on  the  29th  instant;  but  as  that  is  impossible,  I  give  you,  as  representing 
the  Republicanism  of  New  York,  my  greeting  and  hearty  approbation. 

The  question  of  slavery  has,  of  late,  assumed  an  importance  in  the  political  his- 
tory of  the  country  entirely  new  ;  and  the  effrontery  with  which  its  novel,  strange, 
impadeal  and  anti-constitutional  rescripts  are  forced  upon  us,  seeking  to  "subdue" 
the  independence  of  the  North,  and  to  "crush  out"  its  love  of  freedom,  that  the 
blighting  influence  of  that  enervating  and  pauperizing  institution  may  prevail  over 
all  this  favored  land,  demands  the  more  intimate  "  union  for  the  sake  of  the  Union," 
of  all  who  would  transmit  the  inheritance  of  liberty  left  us  by  our  virtuous  fore- 
fathers, unimpaired  to  our  successors. 

The  aggressions  of  slavery,  and  the  encouragement  aud  sanction  which  those 
aggressions  have  received  from  the  men  who  wield  the  dest'.uiea  of  this  nation, 


23 


executive,  judicial,  and  legislative;  and  the  success  which  has,  so  far,  crowned  the 
efforts  of  the  aggressors,  are  truly  appalling. 

Passing  over  all  the  ordinary  and  prominent  reasons  alleged  against  the  creation 
of  more  slave  states — unanswerable  as  they  are — and  admitting  for  the  occasion 
the  monstrous  doctrine,  that  the  Constitution  throws  its  protecting  sagh  with  equal 
jealously  over  human  freedom  and  human  slavery  ;  even  then,  what  claim  have 
they  to  the  control  of  any  more  states  ?  From  territory  acquired  since  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution,  there  have  already  been  admitted  to  equal  privileges  two 
free  states — Iowa  and  California — with  four  United  States  senators,  and  covering 
an  area  of  206, S94  square  miles;  and  five  slave  states — Florida,  Louisiana,  Arkan- 
sas Misscfuri,  and  Texas — haviug  ten  United  States  senators,  and  encompassing  a 
surface  of  457,605  square  miles. 

The  available  power  of  the  United  States  government  rests  with  the  Senate. 
In  the  enactment  of  all  laws,  that  body  is  equal  to  the  popular  branch  ;  and  in  a  I- 
dition  to  that,  the  Senate  exercises  absolute  authority  over  all  appointments  to 
places  of  honor  and  profit.  The  steady  aim  of  the  South,  for  many  years,  has  been 
to  govern  the  country  through  that  arm  ;  and  accordingly,  no  means,  however  ex- 
treme, have  been  left  unemployed  to  secure  a  controlling  majority  there.  The  re- 
sult of  this  bold  but  insidious  policy,  so  far,  lias  been  to  give  fifteen  states,  with  a 
free  population  of  6,412,503,  to  slavery  ;  and  sixteen  nominally  to  freedom,  with  a 
like  population  of  13,486,931 — or,  in  the  substantial  government  of  the  country, 
each  inhabitant  of  a  slaveholding  state  exercises  a  power  double  that  of  each  citi- 
zen of  the  free  states.  The  natural  and  coustaut  operation  of  the  laws  of  popula- 
tion is  every  day  widening  this  difference  between  the  aggregates  ;  and  now  a 
deadly  effort  is  making  by  the  South  to  increase  this  ami-republican  element  in  our 
government  to  an  illimitable  extent. 

It  is  due  to  the  controlling  power  of  slavery  in  the  Senate,  operating  directly" 
upoii  the  hopes  and  fears  of  aspiring  men,  that  we  are  so  often  called  to  lament 
the  perfidy  of  many  of  our  eminent  northern  statesmen.  They  have  often  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  northern  freemen,  and  have,  while  in  the  honorable  enployment  of 
a  state,  proved  themselves  worthy  of  the  confidence  reposed  in  them.  But  when 
the  bounds  of  a  single  state  become  too  narrow  for  their  ambitious  views,  they 
learn  that  no  man  who  remains  true  to  the  instinct  of  freedom  and  to  the  interests 
of  the  .North  can  receive  the  approval  of  that  body  ;  and,  alas  !  the  virtue  of  too 
many  is  found  unable  to  cope  with  this  giant  influence. 

The  encroachments  made  of  late  years  upon  the  constitutional  and  common  law 
right  of  the  states,  by  the  various  courts  of  the  United  States,  eularging  their  own 
jurisdiction,  and  setting  al  defiance  the  judicial  systems  of  the  several  states,  pre- 
sent an  aspect  most  alarming  to  the  free  people  of  the  country.  No  one  can  be 
more  disposed  to  uphold  the  legitimate  adjudications  of  our  courts  than  myself; 
but  I  am  constrained  to  declare,  that  in  my  view  the  framework  of  the  United 
States  Courts  is  unsound ;  and  the  exercise  of  their  unwarrantable  and  constantly 
augmenting  jurisdiction,  in  matters  pertaining  to  slavery,  cannot  always  be  endured. 

In  every  branch  of  our  government  the  preponderating  power  is  claimed  by,  and 
has  hitherto  generally  been  quietly  granted  to,  a  portion  of  the  people,  inferior  in 
numbers,  in  wealth,  in  industry,  and  in  intellect;  who  repudiate  the  freedom  of  the 
race,  and  hold  in  perpetual  bondage  a  large  part  of  their  native  born  citizens. 
The  aim  of  that  class  now  is,  by  new  and  minuter  subdivisions  of  both  its  dominant 
and  servile  populations,  and  by  threats  of  blood  and  rapine  against  peaceable  and 
worthy  emigrants,  to  acquire  additional  strength  in  the  Senate,  so  that  this  inferior 
faction  of  one  people  may  forever  exercise  unlimited  sway  over  this  fair  heritage 
of  freedom. 

I  have  no  sympathy  with  that  phase  of  humanity  whose  stoical  philosophy  can 
look  with  unruffled  composure  upon  hordes  of  filibustering  cut-throats  invading  the 
settlements  of  quiet  emigrants,  murdering  unarmed  and  defenceless  men,  and  me- 
nacing whole  villages  with  fire  and  sword  ;  but  whose  delicate  sensibilities  are 
shocked  and  horrified  at  the  iniquity  of  those  who  furnish  their  distant  friends  and 
brothers  with  the  means  of  skarpe  defence  against  such  atrocious  Vandalism. 

We  may  be  beaten  for  one  year,  or  two  years,  or  more  ;  men  have  not  yet 
learned  the  innate  energy  of  true  and  holy  principle,  moving  upon  the  human  heart 
and  evolved  in  political  action.  But  that  the  dark  spirit  of  slavery  will  forever 
wave  her  gloomy  ensign  over  this  land,  rescued  once  from  arbitrary  rule  by  the 
patriot  bands  of  the  Revolution,  and  whose  free  soil  was  baptized  in  the  blood  of 


her  slain,  I  no  more  fear  than  I  fear  that  the  powers  of  darkness  will  hold  ever- 
lasting dominion  over  this  redeemed  world. 

The  express  wish  of  the  masses  of  the  North  hitherto  has  been  only  to  restrain 
slavery  within  its  own  legitimate  limits.  To  raise  an  issue  beyond  this  is  madness 
on  the  part  of  the  South— for  if  slavery  succeeds  in  the  present  contest,  it  will 
ouly  render  the  certain  triumph  of  freedom  more  glorious,  and  the  final  doom  of 
t4at  nefarious  system  the  more  complete.  I  am,  gentlemen, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Henry  W.  Taylor. 


better  from  Hon.  Hansom  Balcom. 

Binghampton,  April  21,  1856. 
Gentlemen  :  I  have  received  your  circular,  requesting  me  to  attend  a  meeting  of 
the  citizens  of  New  York,  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  preseut  ad- 
ministration for  the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory  embraced  within  the  com- 
pact of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  in  favor  of  restoring  the  action  and  position 
of  the  federal  government  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  principles  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson,  to  be  held  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  on  the  evening  of  the  29th 
instant. 

While  I  heartily  approve  of  the  objects  and  propriety  of  the  proposed  meeting, 
1  must  decline  to  participate  in  it,  for  the  reason  that  judicial  officers  should  stand 
aloof  from  all  political  strife.  They  should  have  political  opinions,  and  they  ought 
to  sustain  them  by  their  votes  at  the  ballot-box,  but  there  their  political  action 
should  begin  and  end. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

Ransom  Balcom. 


Letter  from  lion.  W.  H.  Kelsey. 

Washington,  April  16,  1856. 

Gentlemen:  Your  letter,  of  the  10th  instant,  inviting  me  " to  attend  a  meeting 
of  the  citizens  of  New  York,  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  present  ad- 
ministration for  the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory  emtraced  within  the  com- 
pact of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  in  favor  of  restoring  the  action  and  position 
of  the  federal  government,  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  to  the  principles  of  Washing- 
ton and  Jefferson,  to  be  held  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  on  the  evening  of  the 
29th  inst.,"  was  received  last  evening. 

It  is  uncertain  whether  I  can  be  with  you  on  that  occasion  or  not.  But  be  as- 
sured, gentlemen,  that  I  shall  vote  on  all  occasions,  and  labor  with  all  my  might, 
mind  and  strength,  at  all  times,  to  accomplish  the  objects  set  forth  in  your  letter. 

Thanking  you  for  the  invitation, 

I  am,  yours,  trulv, 

W.  H.  Kelsey. 


Letter  from  Hon.  Timothy  C.  Day. 

Washington,  April  22,  1856. 
Gentlemen :  Your  kind  invitation  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  New 
York,  to  be  held  on  the  29th  inst.,  was  received  some  days  ago,  but  I  have  delayed 
a  reply,  in  hopes  that  a  favorable  change  in  niy  health  would  permit  me  to  accept, 
but  I  now  find  it  necessary  to  turn  homeward,  and  it  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to 
attend 

If  there  ever  was  a  period  in  the  history  of  our  republic  when  good  and  patriotic 
citizens  were  called  upon  to  give  the  weight  of  their  influence  in  a  political  can- 
vass, that  time  is  now.  The  theory  of  our  government  is  about  to  be  subverted,  to 
gratify  the  reckless  ambition  of  a  few  aspirants  for  high  honors,  and  of  many  for 
paying  offices;  and  it  id  necessary  that  the  best  and  purest  men  of  our  times  should 
take  their  stand  on  the  side  of  right  and  free  institutions.  Under  a  miserable  pre- 
text, which  is  a  falsehood  on  its  face.  (I  mean  the  "popular  sovereignty"  of  the 
Kansas  bill,)  a  compact,  made  in  good  faith,  and  under  which  one  of  the  contract- 
ing parties  has  received  its  share  of  benefits,  has  been  broken,  and  now,  by  fraud 
and  violence,  it  is  sought  to  deprive  freedom  of  its  share.  Every  man  of  the  North, 


25 


who  loves  I119  country  more  than  this  party,  must  protest,  by  his  act  and  vote 
against  this  outrage,  and  see  that  the  well-laid  plans  of  the  conspirators  against  the 
public  weal  are  defeated. 

I  trust  that  the  action  of  your  meeting  will  be  energetic,  firm  and  decided.  This 
is  no  time  for  mincing  policy ;  we  want  action — bold,  manly  action.  "We  want  men 
with  heart,  men  with  brain  :  there  is  room  enough  in  the  so-called  democratic  party 
for  all  else.  What  you  do,  let  it  be  done  as  though  your  hearts  were  in  the  work, 
and  you  may  rest  assured  that  your  acts  will  meet  with  a  hearty  response  from  the 
people  of  the  north, 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Timothy  C.  Day. 


Letter  from  Hon.  Schuyler  Calfax,  BE.  C 

House  of  Representatives,  > 
Washington,  April  22,  1356.  ) 

Gentlemen :  It  would  afford  me  more  than  ordinary  pleasure  if  I  were  able  to 
respond  to  the  complimentary  invitation  you  have  tendered  me,  to  address  the 
friends  of  freedom  of  my  native  city ;  but  public  duties  prevent,  and  I  can  be  with 
you,  therefore,  only  in  spirit,  not  in  person. 

But  a  few  days  less  than  sixty-seven  years  ago,  the  father  of  our  country,  in  your 
very  city,  and  in  the  presence  of  your  citizens,  took  that  solemn  oath  of  office  which 
made  him  first  President  of  the  United  States.  And  as  he  looked  abroad  over  the 
republic,  which  he  was  thenceforth  to  aid  in  governing  and  protecting,  as  he  had 
before  in  establishing,  his  clear  eye  could  not  have  failed  to  see  that  in  every  acre  of 
the  national  territory,  outside  the  limits  of  the  States,  slavery  was  expressly  pro- 
hibited and  excluded.  Kb  regret  at  these  enactments  ever  fell  from  his  lips,  for  he 
had  himself,  sixyear3  before,  declared  himself  averse  to  the  institution  and  in  favor 
of  its  abolition;  and  ten  years  later,  on  that  death-bed  which  tests- the  sincerity  of 
mortal  professions,  he  most  solemnly  enjoined  upon  his  executors  that  his  instruc- 
tions for  the  ultimate  emancipation  of  his  slaves  should  be,  to  use  his  own  impres- 
sively anxious  words,  "religiously  fulfilled,  without  evasion,  neglect,  or  delay."  He, 
whose  right  arm  had  so  essentially  aided  in  achieving  the  liberties  we  now  enjoy, 
and  in  consummating  our  independence  by  the  union  which  followed,  never  ap- 
peared to  realize  that,  in  order  to  secure  "the  equality  of  the  States,"  those  contin- 
ental prohibitions  against  slavery  extension  should  be  declared  "  inoperative  and 
void,"  and  the  absolute  right  of  the  slaveholder  to  emigrate  into  our  territories  with  his 
human  property,  enforced  and  upheld  by  presidents,  legislators,  and  judges  ;  and  I 
confess  that,  even  in  these  latter  days  of  discoveries  like  these,  I  prefer  to  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  the  revolutionary  fathers,  and  to  profit  by  their  example,  rather 
than  to  be  dazzled  by  the  new  lights  of  the  present  age. 

It  is  eminently  fitting,  therefore,  that  the  National  Committee,  in  summoning- 
the  opponents  of  slavery  extension  together  at  Philadelphia,  should  remind  the 
country,  as  they  have  in  their  call,  that  our  purpose  is  to  restore  the  government  to 
the  policy  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  its  most  illustrious  founders — that,  instead 
of  being  "abolitionists,"  we  do  not  even  go  as  far  as  they  did,  when  the  one  in  1783 
and  1786,  and  the  other  in  1774,  declared  themselves  in  favor  of  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  States  where  it  then  existed — and  that  we  only  strive  to  bring  back  our 
national  territories  to  the  same  free  condition  that  existed  in  similar  organizations 
on  the  30th  of  April,  1789.  This  is  a  work  in  which  all  patriots  can  harmoniously 
unite.  It  is  one  which  the  imminence  of  the  present  crisis — (when  the  slave  power 
demands  an  absolute  reversal  of  the  revolutionary  precedent,  and  that  all  territory 
6hail  be  slave,  not  free,) — forces  upon  the  country  as  paramount  to  all  other  issues. 
And  if  any  one  fails  to  recognise  that  it  is  the  over-shadowing  question  of  the  day, 
which  must  be  settled  before  and  above  all  other  questions,  in  one  way  or  another,, 
in  favor  of  liberty  or  of  slavery,  by  the  policy  of  Washington  or  of  Douglas — the 
fact  that,  in  its  presence,  the  bonds  of  old  party  organizations  snap  like  brittle 
threads  and  are  consumed  like  flax,  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  convince  him  that  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  recognize  it  as  the  issue  of  ths  times,  and  are  already  pre- 
paring for  its  final  settlement  at  that  court  of  last  resort  with  American  freer- 
men — the  ballot-box. 


26 


You  have' not  failed  to  notice  that  the  opening  of  the  present  Congress  wac  signaliz- 
ed by  the  preliminary  struggle  of  this  conflict.  I  will  not  weary  you  by  alluding  to 
the  fact  that  your  representatives  here  exhibited  their  realizing  sense  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  contest  by  standing  firm  through  a  prolonged  parliamentary  struggle,  un- 
exampled in  history,  and  which  could  be  vindicated  only  by  an  overpowering  convic- 
tion of  duty  and  of  right.  1  need  only  say  that,  at  last,  after  a  faithful  persistenc  e 
of  months,  with  ranks  as  full  to  the  end  as  when  they  entered  on  the  contest,  a 
victory  for  freedom  and  justice  crowned  their  labors.  It  remains  for  you,  and 
the  people  of  the  country  at  large,  to  say  whether  this  auspicous  success  shall 
be  followed  up  and  consummated  in  the  national  canvass  which  is  ju^t  opening, 
by  a  triumph  of  free  labor  as  well  as  free  principles,  peaceful  in  its  character, 
patriotic  in  its  objects,  republican  in  its  results.  With  a  man  of  firmness  as 
well  as  patriotism  in  the  presidential  chair,  the  government  will  be  restored  to 
the  policy  of  its  fathers;  and  the  slanders  of  our  opponents  will  be  disproved 
by  his  vindicating  the  eternal  truth  of  our  American  Magna  Charta  on  the  one 
hand,  while  opposing  all  unconstitutional  interference  with  the  rights  of  the  slave 
States  on  the  other.  With  the  country  thus  Happily  and  justly  governed,  it  can- 
not fail  to  go  on  in  a  career  of  prosperity,  development  and  wealth,  which  free- 
dom will  be  certain  to  bring  in  its  train,  until  the  efforts  now  making  to  blot  out 
the  examples  of  our  forefathers  and  to  extend  the  dominion  of  human  bondage, 
shall  be  looked  upon  from  the  clearer  stand-point  of  the  hereafter  with  woudcr 
and  regret  by  all. 

In  this  noble  work,  with  such  happy  results  as  must  inevitably  flow  from  your 
labors,  you  need  no  words  of  encouragement  from  me.  With  union  and  concord 
you  cannot  fail.  The  principles  upon  which  w  e  stand  caunot  but  command  success 
when  the  public  mind  is  concentrated  on  this  great  issue.  Politicians  in  the  Senate 
may  clamor  in  regard  to  the  "  equality  of  the  states,"  which  no  man  denies.  But 
the  people  will  regard  it  as  a  higher  and  nobler  principle  that  we  vindicate  iu  oar 
policy  the  equality  of  the  American  freeman;  and  that  we  demand,  as  one  of  ihe 
"needful  rules  and  regulations  for  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  which  Con- 
gress is  expressly  authorized  by  the  Constitution  to  enact,  that  the  territories  shall 
be  so  organized,  as  in  1789,  that  all  of  our  citizens,  from  whatever  clime  they  may 
come,  or  whatever  may  be  their  pecuniary  condition,  shall  have  equal  rights  in  their 
settlement;  and  that  no  institution  shall  prevail  in  them  which  shall  degrade 
American  labor,  and  press  down  the  mechanic,  the  day-laborer,  the  road-builder  or 
the  worker  in  the  fields,  towards  the  social  condition  of  the  southern  slave.  Jn  a 
word,  that  it  shall  be  the  first  duty  of  the  government  to  see  to  it,  that,  wherever  is 
constitutional  authority,  Labor,  the  primal  element  of  American  prosperity,  shall 
be  honored,  elevated  and  protected.  Then,  the  true  policy  of  the  founders  of  the 
republic  will  be  vindicated  by  their  successors.  And  then,  as  the  vanguard  of 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization  pushes  forward  and  takes  possession  of  the  wide-spread 
territories  of  the  West,  ever  beneath  the  folds  of  the  national  banner,  as  it  greets 
the  morning  breeze  and  reflects  the  setting  sun,  the  great  central  truth  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  will  be  recognized  and  avowed — that  all  men  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  liberty,  and  that  is  one  of  1he  highest  aims  and 
iuobles  duties  of  government  to  protect  this  God-given  and  inalienable  right,  where- 
ever  it  possesses  the  power. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

Schuylior  Colfax. 

Inciter  from  Edward  Wade,  XJ.  S. 

Washington,  April  25th,  1856. 

Gentlemen  :  Your  note  of  invitation  to  "  attend  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  New 
York,  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  present  administration  for  the 
extension  of  slavery  over  territory  embraced  within  the  compact  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise,"  <fec,  was  duly  received,  and  should  have  been  earlier  answered.  Per- 
mit me  to  say,  gentlemen,  that  it  would  afford  me  the  sinccrest  pleasure  to  be  with 
my  fellow-citizens  of  the  "  Commercial  Metropolis"  on  an  occasion  of  such  deep  and 
vital  importance  ;  but  the  pressure  of  duties  nere.  and  the  necessity  of  visiting  my 
own  state  and  home,  for  a  short  time,  forbid  the  gratification. 

In  my  humble  judgment,  gentlemen,  on  the  success  of  efforts,  directed  to  the 
aocompf'shment  of  the  objects  of  your  confer"  plated  meeting,  hangs  the  perpetuity 
of  the  Union  of  these  states. 


27 


The  "  Old  Confederation,"  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Union 
and  government  under  the  Constitution,  were  each  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  organiz- 
ing spirit  of  human  freedom.  Out  of  that  organic  and  life  giving  spirit  arose  the 
form  and  the  substance  of  our  present  Union.  It  must  be  administered  in  the  same 
spirit,  and  with  the  same  purpose,  or  it  becomes  a  lifeless,  putrifying  corpse — a  burr 
in  the  eye,  and  an  offence  to  the  nostrils  of  the  nations. 

The  propagandism  of  slavery,  for  many  years  stealthily  carried  on,  under  the 
influence  of  the  federal  government,  has  now  become  its  avowed  and  reckless  pur- 
pose. The  spirit  which  organized  the  federal  government  at  its  commencement, 
has  been  "cast  out,"  and  the  demon  of  slavery  has  possessed  the  present  adminis- 
tration ;  and,  of  course,  indications  of  dissolution  are  as  obvious  to  the  reflecting 
statesman,  as  to  the  skillful  physician,  are  the  prognostics  of  death  to  the  patient 
laboring  under  cholera  or  consumption. 

The  spirit  which  propagates  human  slavery,  is  a  spirit  of  contention,  of  hatred, 
of  caprice  and  spoil.  There  is  no  cohesiveness  in  that  spirit.  The  union  springing 
from  it,  is  the  efftet  of  force  applied  from  without,  not  the  cohesive  power  of  bene- 
volence and  justice.  The  propagandists  of  slavery,  and  the  conservatives  of  free- 
dom, cannot  work  together,  cannot  love  one  another,  nor  have  confidence  in  each 
other.  This  any  man  of  reflecting  mind  may  and  ought  to  know,  prior  to  experi- 
ence. Theory,  much  as  it  should  be  distrusted,  where  experience  has  not  led  the 
way,  ought  still  to  teach  us  so  much;  nay,  our  own  experience,  in  the  every-day 
duties  of  life,  might  and  ought  to  teach  us  this.  But  our  experiences  here,  in  con- 
tact with  the  propagandists  of  slavery,  force  upon  us  the  humiliating  truth,  that  a 
hatred  is  growing  up  between  the  opponents  of  slavery  extension  and  its  advocates, 
as  lasting,  and  as  hop:icss  of  reconciliation,  as  the  difference  between  the  priceless 
blessings  of  liberty,  and  the  unfathomed  curse  of  human  bondage.  This  is  not 
only  theoretically  true,  but  it  is  true  in  fact,  in  the  activities  of  every-day  life. 
There  is  no  cure  for  this  growing  ami1  inevitable  repulsion,  but  in  the  subordination 
of  freedom  to  slavery ;  nune,  but  in  its  restriction,  and  its  expulsion  from  territories 
once  dedicated  to  freedom.  Let  the  spread  of  slavery  be  once  stopped  effectually, 
and,  like  a  disease  of  the  body,  the  constitutional  vigor  will  soon  wholly  eradicate 
the  leprosy. 

But  I  did  not  des-ign  to  say  anything  when  I  commenced,  but  simply  this — that 
at  this  time,  politically  speaking,  "  but  one  thing  is  needful,"  and  that  is  the  uncon- 
querable spirit  of  Union  among  the  opponents  of  slavery  extension;  tins,  with  that 
energy  which  tiie  spirit  of  liberty  ought  to  inspire,  for  so  glorious  an  end  as  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  "  for  sake"  of  our  fathers  who  formed  it,  and  the  glorious 
any  priceless  ends  for  which  they  formed  it,  will  bring  us  the  victory;  and  with  it 
countless  years  of  justice,  freedom  and  prosperity  to  our  beloved  country. 

I  remain,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

Edw.  Wade. 


Letter  from  Hon.  James  II.  Titus. 

Malone,  April  24th,  1856. 

Gentlemen  :  Official  duties  in  connection  with  a  public  trust  will  oblige  me  to  be 
in  the  western  part  of  our  state  the  29th  instant,  the  time  appointed  for  the  meeting 
at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle ;  and  I  much  regret  that  I  shall  thus  be  prevented  from  be- 
ing present,  for  lam  decidedly  "opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  present  ad- 
ministration for  the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory  embraced  within  the  compact 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  ;"  and  I  am  earnestly  "  in  favor  of  restoring  the  action 
and  position  of  the  federal  government  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  principles  of 
Washington  and  Jetfersou."  The  fact  that  your  meeting  is  designed  to  promote  a 
party  movement  in  the  next  presidential  campaign  w"hich  shall  act  independent  of 
former  party  associations, — irrespective  of  former  political  issues, — and  solely  for 
the  defence  of  free  territory  against  the  aggression  of  slavery,  adds  to  the  regrets  I 
experience  in  being  prevented  from  accepting  your  invitation. 

The  influence  of  the  pro-slavery  interest  has  had,  for  many  years  past,  such  a  de- 
moralizir,^  effect  on  the  conduct  of  aspiring  politicians  in  free  states  as  to  deprive 
any  of  the  existing  parties  of  the  confidence  of  the  true  advocates  of  free  labor ;  we 
have  seen  each  contending  against  the  other  in  a  race  to  obtain  the  pro-slavery 
vote.  It  has  been  this  gambling  on  the  part  of  our  prominent  party  men — this 
treachery  to  the  known  sentiments  of  their  constituents — that  has  deprived  the  free 


23 


states  of  the  increased  political  strength  -which  should  have  resulted  from  the 
increase  of  territory  and  population,  and  has  given  to  the  6lave  states  so  much 
more  than  their  just  relative  strength. 

The  artful  exercise  of  such  power  by  the  South  in  the  defeat  of  the  nomination 
of  Martin  Van  Buren  in  1844,  but  for  the  magnanimity  of  Silas  Wright,  would 
have  caused  the  overthrew  of  the  democratic  party  in  that  presidential  campaign. 
Alas  !  how  soon  did  that  pure  patriot  have  reason  to  regret  his  misplaced  confi- 
dence; and  how  bitterly  have  the  true  friends  of  free  labor  since  lamented  that 
such  magnanimity  should  have  been  prostituted  to  the  aggrandizement  of  the  pro- 
slavery  interest — no  person  who  ever  justly  appreciated  the  character  of  Silas 
Wright,  can  suppose  the  regret  he  experienced  of  his  misplaced  confidence  arose 
from  any  selfish  consideration — no,  that  regret,  like  every  impulsion  of  his  heart  and 
mind.^was  in  connection  with  his  conviction  of  righteousness.  He  perceived  hi3 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  democratic  party  was  about  to  be  perverted,  through 
the  treachery  of  doughfaces,  to  the  promotion  of  the  adventitious  power  of  the 
pro-slavery  interest.  The  rule  of  action  in  national  politics  immediately  instituted 
by  Polk  and  his  cabinet,  and  continued  by  each  successive  administration,  has  de- 
monstrated the  correctness  of  Gov.  Wright's  apprehensions,  and  it  is  now  manifest 
that  such  rule  of  action  was  then  allowed,  and  has  since  been  sustained  by  the 
leaders  of  all  parties  in  the  free  states  with  a  direct  view  of  the  political  favor  of 
the  slave  states. 

The  first  fruits  of  this  unjust  and  injurious  rule  of  action  in  our  national  affairs, 
were  the  immediate  annexation  of  Texas,  and  the  Mexican  war,  and  since  then  we 
have  had  a  continued  harvest  of  apples  of  discord,  such  as  the  Compromise  mea- 
sures^ the  Fugitive  Slave  law,  the  Nebraska  bill,  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  the  armed  invasion  of  free  territory. 

It  is  known  to  the  world  that  each  of  these  measures  was  perpetrated  in  open 
subservience  to  the  dictation  of  the  slave  states  and  in  flagrant  disregard  of  public 
sentiment  in  the  free  states;  all  done  specially  to  promote  the  selfish  purposes  of 
mad  politicians  and  patronage-mongers  among  the  former,  and  of  party  aspirants 
and  patronage-seekers  among  the  latter.  Is  this  vicious  rule  of  action  in  our  na- 
tional politics  to  be  continued  ?  Are  political  aspirants  to  be  allowed  thus  to  sport 
with  the  harmony  of  our  Union?  We  may  hope  not,  for  we  now  find  throughout 
the  free  states  a  deep  sensation  and  stern  indignation  on  the  subject  prevailing  with 
all  pure  patriots,  and  forcing  them,  irrespective  of  former  party  associations,  to  cry 
out  to  each  other,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  V  and  it  is  to  this  state  of 
feeling  that  we  may  trace  the  origin  of  the  present  Republican  party,  which,  I 
trust,  is  now  about  to  be  so  organized  that  we  may  confidently  look  to  its  rule  of 
action  for  a  better  future  in  our  national  politics. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  advantage  obtained  by  the  pro-slavery  interest  through  the 
unfortunte  self-sacrifice  of  Silas  Wright.  Let  me  relate,  as  appropriate  to  the  oc- 
casion of  your  meeting,  the  concluding  remarks  of  a  long  conversation  I  had  with 
him  at  the  time  of  the  first  discussion  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso  in  our  state  legisla- 
ture (January,  1847);  since  which  I  have  never  doubted  where  his  name  would 
have  been  enrolled  in  subsequent  party  divisions  on  the  subject,  had  heaven  spared 
him  to  have  taken  his  part — said  he,  "  This  question  will  be  readily  settled,  as  it 
should,  if  the  people  of  the  free  states  are  true  to  themselves ;  if  ail  the  free  states 
shall  now  act  as  an  entire  body  in  the  defence  and  support  of  free  territory,  as  the 
South  in  latter  times  have  and  will  continue  to  act  in  efforts  to  extend  slavery — if 
we,  of  the  free  states,  act  our  part  in  this  matter,  irrespective  of  party  associations, 
with  the  same  concert  that  the  slave  states  do  their  part, — if  we  talk  as  freely,  as 
plainly  (I  may  say)  as  frankly  as  they  do — the  question  is  settled.  The  talk  of 
disunion,  by  the  slave  interest,  is  simply  the  boy's  cry  of  the  wolf;  and  when  re- 
ferred toby  political  aspirants  in  the' free  states,  is  hypocrisy  of  a  shallow  nature; 
the  South  laugh  in  their  sleeves  when  they  suppose  the  cry  is  heeded  by  the 
North." 

Let  it  be  to  us  Republicans  an  encouragement,  in  our  proposed  line  of  action,  at 
the  approaching  presidential  election,  to  know  that  in  separating  ourselves,  on  this 
important  issue,  from  our  former  party  associates  in  order  to  devote  our  political 
efforts  to  the  preservation  of  free  territory,  we  are  acting  in  conformity  with  the 
views  of  that  judicious  statesman  and  pure  patriot,  Silas  Wright. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

James  H.  Titcs. 


28 


Letter  from  Hon.  Martin  Butts. 

Clarksville,  April  24-,  1856. 

Gentlemen  :  Tour  letter  of  the  10th  instant,  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  a  meet- 
ing to  be  held  in  your  city,  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle,  on  the  29th  inst.,  by  the 
citizens  of  New  York,  was  duly  received.  In  reply,  while  I  am  compelled  to  say 
to  you  that  my  business  arrangements  will  not  permit  me  to  be  present  with  you, 
still  I  beg  leave  to  remark  that  I  sincerely  and  cordially  approve  of  the  object  of 
your  meeting  as  set  forth  in  your  letter,  and  think  that  the  place  for  holding  the 
eame  could  not  have  been  better  selected  than  in  the  city  of  New  York.  I  deem  it 
appropriate  that  the  citizens  of  the  great  commercial  metropolis,  not  only  of  the 
Empire  State,  but  of  the  Union,  should  ever  take  a  prominent  part  in  all  questions 
of  vital  interest  to  the  state  and  nation,  and  give  tone  to  public  sentiment  through- 
out the  entire  iiation.  It  is  not  only  appropriate,  but  patriotism  imperiously  de- 
mands, that  where  so  much  of  wealth,  intelligence  and  enterprise  is  concentrated, 
there  too  the  watch-fires  upon  the  altars  of  freedom  should  be  kept  constantly 
blazing,  and  that  an  influence  from  thence  should  emanate,  and  a  light  from  the 
concentrated  press  of  the  city  should  be  disseminated,  that  would  give  tone  and 
energy  to  the  nation. 

New  York  should  be  to  the  nation  now,  what  Boston  was  to  the  colonies  immedi- 
ately preceding  and  during  the  Revolution.  Indeed,  there  are  many  striking  re- 
semblances between  the  two  periods.  Then,  George  the  Third,  through  his  Parlia- 
ment and  by  the  aid  of  his  mercenary  troops,  sought  to  enforce  upon  the  colonies, 
then  part  and  parcel  of  the  British  Empire,  measures  subversive  of  every  principle 
of  the  English  constitution,  or  their  recognized  charter  of  rights,  as  expounded  by 
the  purest  and  best  patriots  both  in  England  and  America.  Now,  Frank  the  First, 
by  the  aid  of  his  satellites  in  Congress,  threatening  the  aggressive  power  of  the 
whole  military  force  of  the  nation  if  needed,  seeks  to  enforce  a  principle  upon  the 
American  people,  that  is  in  direct  hostility  to  the  sentiments  and  teachings  of  the 
fathers  of  the  republic,  and  which,  if  he  succeeds,  must  ultimately  sap  the  very 
tion  of  the  fair  edifice  they  have  left  us  as  the  joint  product  of  their  wisdom,  vir- 
tue and  patriotism. 

Since  the  organization  of  our  government,  opposing  political  parties  have  been 
striving  for  the  ascendancy  ;  but  hitherto  every  political  party  has  claimed  the 
revolutionary  fathers  as  their  tutelar  saints  or  guiding  stars,  till  our  modern  Solons 
have  improved  upon  democracy  by  the  infusion  of  squatter  sovereignty,  and  anon 
a  pseudo-democracy  has  emerged  from  the  amalgamation  that  can  talk  jeeringly 
and  fluently  of  "  Mr.  Jefferson's  dogma,"  and  find  abundance  of  Scripture  to  prove 
(to  their  understanding,  at  least,)  that  slavery — even  of  white  men — is  in  accord- 
ance with  the  design  of  Heaven  for  the  well-being  of  society. 

Let  such  sentiments  as  these  be  imbibed  by  our  citizens  from  any  influence  what- 
ever, and  the  days  of  the  republic  will  be  numbered,  and  the  eulogy  of  freedom 
may  be  pronounced.  To  counteract  influences  leading  to  such  results,  ever  de- 
mands, and  will  receive,  the  vigilant  attention  of  the  Patriot  and  the  Philanthrop- 
ist. I  am,  gentlemen,  your  obedient  servant, 

Martin  Butts. 


Letter  from  Hon.  Zeitas  Clark. 

Potsdam,  April  23, 1856. 

Gentlemen :  I  am  in  possession  of  your  polite  invitation  to  attend  a  meeting  of 
the  citizens  of  New  York  opposed  to  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  present  ad- 
ministration for  the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory  embraced  within  the  com- 
pact of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  in  favor  of  restoring  the  action  and  position 
of  the  federal  government  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  principles  of  Washing- 
ton and  Jefferson,  to  be  held  at  the  Broadway  Tabernacle  on  the  20th  instant.  I 
shall  not  be  able  to  attend  the  meeting  on  account  of  ill  health  ;  but  its  object  and 
purposes,  as  set  forth  in  your  circular,  have  my  hearty  approval,  and  your  patriotic 
and  praiseworthy  efforts  in  the  cause  of  freedom  well  deserve,  and  will  assuredly 
have,  the  warmest  sympathies  of  all  good  men  and  patriots 

The  base  surrender  to  the  slave  power  of  the  South  of  territory  consecrated  to 
freedom  by  solemn  compact,  led  on  by  a  northern  President,  in  violation  of  repeated 
pledges  to  preserve  the  compromises  of  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic,  has  justly 
spread  alarm  over  the  country,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  have  the  effect  to 


30 


arouse  the  people  to  a  just  sense  of  the  dangers  that  surround  us,  and  the  import- 
ance of  united  action  and  efforts  to  relieve  us  from  the  threatened  evil.  Regard- 
less of  long-cherished  partisan  names  and  organizations,  let  the  true  friends  of  hu- 
man freedom  unite  as  one  strong  and  mighty  man  in  placing  the  government  in  the 
hands  of  honest  men,  tried  men,  who  are  known  to  possess  the  qualifications  to 
administer  the  government  according  to  the  genius  and  spirit  of  its  institutions. 
This  done,  the  old  landmarks  restored  and  well  secured  by  proper  constitutional 
safeguard,  we  may  retain  the  freedom  of  our  fathers  and  the  country  restored  to 
quiet  Respectfully  yours, 

Z.  Clark. 


Letter  from  Hon.  Biadforrf  R,  Wco  !. 

Albany,  April  25,  1856. 
Gentlemen  :  Your  note  inviting  me  to  attend  a  meeting  (to  be  held  at  the  Taber- 
nacle on  the  29th  instant)  of  the  citizens  of  New  York  opposed  to  the  slave  ex- 
tension policy  of  the  administration,  and  in  favor  of  restoring  the  action  of  the 
federal  government  on  the  subject  of  slavery  to  the  principles  of  Washington  and 
Jefferson,  has  been  received.  I  regret  that  my  engagements  are  such  that  1  cannot 
be  present  on- that  occasion.  I  heartily  approve'of  the  object  for  which  that  meet- 
ing is  called. 

The  only  question  of  any  moment  now  before  the  nation  is  resistance  to  slave 
extension  and  slavery  aggression,  and  I  trust  that  all  who  think  alike  in  this  respect 
will  subordinate  all  other  questions  to  it.  That  the  cause  of  human  liberty  and  the 
stability  of  the  Union  depend  on  our  success,  I  firmly  believe.  The  election  of  a 
Republican  Speaker  in  the  House  of  Representatives  should  go  far  to  disabuse  hon- 
est men  at  the  South  of  their  apprehension  (if  any)  as  to  any  interference  on  our 
part  with  the  so-called  "  domestic  institution,"  and  which  now  exists  in  the  slave 
states  by  permission  of  the  Constitution — an  institution  which,  on  their  own  show- 
ing, as  well  as  of  the  last  census,  has  degraded  millions  of  white  men  below  the  level 
of  the  African,  and  the  final  consummation  of  which,  as  I  believe,  will  be  in  that 
amalgamation  of  the  races  so  rapidly  going  on  among  them.  From  the  North,  the 
South  has  nothing  to  fear,  for  we  have  always  kept  our  faith  with  the  South.  Had 
a  similar  regard  for  compromises  and  good  faith  obtained  with  them,  the  nation 
would  not  nowTbe  convulsed  as  it  is.  On  them  and  their  venal  northern  allies  must 
rest  the<  blame  of  the  present  agitated  state  of  affairs,  and  of  civil  war,  if  civil  war 
ensue.  '  Perhaps  some  excuse  may  be  made  for  the  South  for  being  misled,  if  misled 
she  is,  as  to  our  object  in  the  present  contest,  by  the  wilfully  false  statements  of 
these  their  associates.  Men  who  wTould  hesitate  to  utter  a  single  falsehood  in 
private,  have  no  scruples  in  publishing  and  circulating  political  lies  by  the  whole- 
sale. The  time  may  not  be  very  far  distant  when  these  men,  a  disgrace  to  our  own 
free  state  iustitutions,  shall  be  required  by  a  just  public  sentiment  to  seek  homes 
among  those  slave  institutions  they  so  much  admire  and  are  seeking  to  extend.  If 
the  Hotspurs  of  the  South  should  succeed  in  their  cherished  design  of  dissolving 
the  Union,  and  by  the  complicity  of  these  men,  we  shall  be  well  rid  of  them.  Our 
platform  should  be  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  This  will  bring  all  men  to  the 
test  at  once.  It  is  the  disgrace  of  our  times  that  this  declaration  has,  among  slave 
extensionists,  become  a  mere  figment — a  figure  of  speech,  to  be  jeered  and  flouted 
at,  even  in  the  halls  of  Congress.  The  Constitution,  an  emanation  of  that  instrument, 
in  our  early  times  was  construed  by  it,  and  it  must  again  be  so  construed.  None 
but  an  ignorant,  an  impudent  or  an  unscrupulous  man  would  assert  that  slave  ex- 
tension is  sanctioned  by  the  Constitution. 

We  have  another  duty  to  perform,  and  that  is  to  vindicate  the  judiciary  from  the 
tyrannic  purposes  for  which  it  has  been  and  is  sought  to  be  used.  Constructive 
treason,  that  engine  of  the  despotic  Stuarts,  has  been  introduced  into  our  own 
country  by  the  late  and  present  administration  in  aid  of  the  slave  power;  and  history 
tells  us  that  there  have  ever  been  found  among  the  bar  and  on  the  bench,  willing 
and  fit  tools  of  such  despotism.  Fortunately,  our  standing  army,  however  com- 
posed, is  small,  and,  I  trust,  to  be  made  smaller ;  and,  packed  juries  outside  Judge 
Lynch's  jurisdiction,  and  in  the  free  states,  of  rare  occurrence. 

I  remain,  very  respectfully,  yours, 

Bradford  R.  Wood. 


31 


»         From  Senator  WSl.son,  of  Massachusetts. 

Senate  Chamber,  April  25,  1856. 

Gentlemen  :  Your  kind  invitation  to  attend  your  meeting  on  the  29th  instant,  has 
been  received,  and,  in  reply,  I  am  compelled  to  say,  that  my  official  duties  will  not 
permit  to  do  so.  I  need  not  say  to  you,  gentleman,  that  it  would  afford  me  the 
highest  satisfaction  to  meet  with  the  friends  of  free  Kansas,  and  the  opponents  of 
the  extension  of  slavery,  in  the  commercial  capital  of  the  republic,  and  to  unite 
with  them  in  the  effort  to  place  that  commercial  capital  against  the  domination  of  a 
a  party  that  "seduces"  (to  use  the  expressive  language  of  David  Wihnot)  "by  its 
promises,  corrupts  by  its  patronage,  and  devises  by  its  use  of  party  organization." 
Associated  as  the  city  of  New  York  is  with  all  the  sections  of  our  common  country — 
by  her  vast  commercial  relations,  and  by  the  power  of  her  newspaper  press — it  is 
of  vital  importance  to  the  cause  of  Free  Kansas,  that  she  should  take  her  position 
"openly,  actively,  and  perpetually  on  the  side  of  Freedom." 

The  friends  of  Free  Kansas,  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  receive  the  most  gratify- 
ing assurances  from  all  sections  <  f  the  free  states,  that  the  People's  Convention,  to 
be  holden  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  17th  June,  will  be  promptly  responded  to  by  men 
of  all  parlies — Whigs  and  Democrats,  Americans  and  Republicans.  The  instincts 
of  the  people,  often  wiser  than  the  logical  deductions  of  statesmen,  comprehend 
the  exact  position  of  public  affairs,  and  the  practical  duty  demanded  by  the  present 
crisis. 

The  instinctive  sagacity  of  the  masses  clearly  comprehend  the  "  fixed  fact,"  that 
the  friends  of  free  Kansas  can  only  hope  to  triumph  in  the  coming  Presidential 
election  by  the  coraial  union  of  the  opponents  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  pro- 
hibition, of  all  parties,  upon  that  issue,  allowing  perfect  toleration  of  opinion  and 
action  upon  all  other  questions  of  state  and  national  policy.  If  true  friends  of  free 
Kansas  and  freedom  in  the  territories,  who  have  acted,  in  the  Whig,  Democratic, 
American  and  Republican  parties  will  unite  in  the  People's  Convention,  which  opens 
its  doors  to  them  all,  consent  to  tolerate  the  utmost  freedom  of  opinion  and  action 
upon  questions  upon  which  they  have  heretofore  widely  differed,  and  pledge  them: 
selves  not  to  proscribe  each  other  on  account  of  these  minor  differences,  they  caJi 
easily  win  a  victory  over  the  waning  power  of  Pro-Slavery  Democracy — dethrone 
the  Black  Power,  and  enthrone  Freedom  in  the  government  of  the  republic. 

Yours,  truly,  Henry  Wilson. 


From  tlte  Hon.  E.  Si.  Morgan,  of  New  York. 

House  of  Representatives,  27th  April,  1856. 

Gentlemen :  It  would  be  most  agreeable  to  me  to  accept  your  invitation  to  unite 
with  the  hosts  of  the  free  men  of  New  York  on  the  29th  instant,  to  give  expression 
to  the  general  sentiments  of  the  North  upon  the  absorbing  issues  of  the  day. 

I  am  devoted  to  the  principles  you  advocate,  and  shall  with  zeal  co  operate  with 
you  in  maintaining  them. 

Duty  compels  me  to  remain  at  my  post,  and,  to  the  extent  of  my  ability,  defend 
the  cause  of  freedom  from  the  assaults  of  the  slavr  power  of  the  South,  the  miserable 
race  of  Doughfaces  of  the  North,  and  profligate,  corrupt  administration  here. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  truly  yours,  Edwin  B.  Morgan. 

Letter  from  F.  P.  ill  air. 

Silver  Spring,  April  26,  1856. 

Gentlemen:  It  is  grateful  to  me  to  receive  an  invitation  to  unite  in  your  effort 
to  restore  the  patriotism  of  the  time  when  republicans  of  every  party  were  array- 
ed in  opposition  to  the  sinister  designs  of  the  nullifiers  of  the  South. 

They  are  more  formidable  now  than  ever.  They  have  an  administration  installed 
at  Washington  to  aid  their  plots,  which,  receiving  its  power  from  the  democracy, 
has  betrayed  its  organization — its  name,  and  the  accumulated  confidence  gathered 
around  it,  by  the  labors  of  the  illustrious  restorers  of  the  principles  derived  from 
Jefferson,  together  with  the  authority  it  conferred  on  those  entrusted  with  the 
government,  to  assist  the  worst  enemy  of  its  cause. 

To  use  a  homely  phrase,  "  the  democracy  has  been  sold  out"  to  Mr.  Calhoun's  nul 
lifying  party  ;  a  party  which  owes  its  origin  to  artful  appeals  made  by  him  to  the 
slaveholding  interest,  operating  on  the  fears  of  some,  the  avarice  and  ambition  of 
othera. 


32 


A  brief  account  of  the  rise  of  this  party  will  be  useful,  as  explaining. the  source 

of  its  power  and  the  present  troubles  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Calhoun,  after  failing  in  his  effort  to  attain  the  Presidency,  by  the  sacrifice 
he  made  of  southern  interests  to  manufacturing  cupidity,  in  the  first  protective 
tariff,  which  he  contributed  to  enact,  changed  his  tactics,  and  devoted  his  life  to 
achieve  the  object  of  his  ambition  by  consolidating  the  slave  power  through  ap- 
peals to  its  interests.  He  reversed  his  tariff  policy,  and  pronounced  the  protective 
system  robbery  of  the  South.  Agriculture  was  indeed  everywhere  oppressed  by 
an  excessive  tariff;  but  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his  partisans  insisted  that  the  whole  burden 
fell  on  the  South,  although  the  North  paid  double  the  duties  paid  by  the  South. 

His  own  and  Mr.  McDuffie's  powerful  appeals  persuaded  South  Carolina  that 
the  Union  was  a  mischief  to  her,  and  as  the  central  seaboard  state,  she  would 
prosper  more  as  the  Lead  of  the  southern  confederacy,  than  as  a  little  slave  oligar- 
chy m  the  midst  of  great  republican  commonwealths,  then  looking  to  the  gradual 
progress  of  free  principles,  for  aggrandizement. 

The  more  prosperous  states  of  the  South,  although  hostile  to  the  tariff,  would  not 
■adopt  Mr.  Calhoun's  nullification  for  redress.  His  attempt  to  identify  General  Jack- 
son's administration  with  South  Carolina  principles  proved  abortive.  The  plan  to 
effect  it  was  ingeniously  contrived.  A  dinner,  in  honor  of  Jefferson's  birthday, 
was  the  occasion  devised  to  inaugurate  the  administration  and  the  doctrine  of  nul- 
lification together.  The  sentiments  prepared  for  promulgation  with  this  view 
were  laid  by  the  side  of  the  new  President's  plate,  to  receive  his  sanction,  but  they 
met  his  reprobation  in  the  famous  toast :  "  The  federal  Union  must  be  preserved" 
— which  he  inscribed  on  the  paper.  Mr.  Calhoun's  next  step  was  to  bring  South 
Carolina  alone  into  the  arena,  to  defy  the  general  government  and  broach  civil  war, 
relying  on  the  sympathy  of  the  slave  states  to  unite  all  in  making  common  cause 
with  her  when  coerced  by  the  general  government.  This  hazardous  plan  of  com- 
bining the  slaveholding  powei  in  a  war  upon  the  Union,  fell  under  the  proclama- 
tion and  the  force  bill. 

Mr.  Calhoun  did  not  abandon,  under  this  defeat,  his  favorite  design  of  embodying 
the  South  as  a  section,  to  command  the  North  or  separate  from  it.  The  cry  that 
slavery  was  in  danger  was  his  next  rallying  cry.  The  names  of  Tappan,  Garrison 
and  other  speculative  enthusiasts,  who  argued  the  cause  of  the  African  race,  in  the 
hope  of  reaching  the  feelings  and  consciences  of  those  who  had  the  power  of  giv- 
ing them  freedom,  were  made  the  watchwords  of  his  party.  Mr.  Calhoun  en- 
deavored to  impress  the  feeling  that  these  movements  portended  the  invasion  of 
the  rights  of  southern  slave-owners  by  the  power  of  northern  states.  There  was 
not  the  slightest  pretext  for  the  apprehension.  The  great  majority  in  all  the  free 
states  condemned  interference  with  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  South.  Even 
discussion  of  the  subject,  with  a  view  to  moral  effect,  was  in  the  northern  cities 
frowned  down.  But  Mr.  Calhoun  was  not  content  with  this  demonstration  of  pub- 
lic feeling  in  the  free  states.  His  next  move  was  to  convoke  a  sectional  convention 
of  all  the  states  holding  slaves,  for  the  purpose  of  demanding  of  the  northern 
legislatures  the  suppression  of  the  abolition  societies,  headed  by  Tappaii  and  others ; 
and  he  declared  that  the  South  must  dissolve  the  Union,  unless  the  North  obej-ed 
his  call  to  suppress  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of  the  press,  if  employed  by  its 
citizens  in  discussing  the  mischiefs  of  slavery.  This  extraordinary  movement  to 
enforce  the  persecution  of  free  opinion  in  one  section  by  demanding  penal  enact- 
ments, menacing  a  revolt  in  the  other,  on  failure  to  comply,  had  the  desired  effect. 
It  gave  importance  to  the  Abolitionists,  which  it  is  impossible  they  would  other- 
wise have  acquired.  Multitudes  were  ready  to  defend  the  freedom  of  speech,  who 
were  strongly  opposed  to  the  abuse  of  it. 

The  legislatures  of  the  North  would  not  persecute  at  Mr.  Calhoun's  bidding.  He 
then  appealed  to  Congress  to  suppress  the  circulation  of  what  he  called  the  "  in- 
cendiary" tracts  of  the  abolitionists,  and  introduced  a  bill,  supported  by  a  long  re- 
port, to  enforce  a  sort  of  censorship  over  every  publication  lodged  in  the  mail. 
All  were  to  be  suppressed  that  could  be  construed  as  affecting  slavery.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn denounced  a  separation  of  the  Union  as  the  necessary  consequence  of  the 
failure  of  this  measure.  It  failed  as  an  enactment,  but  did  not  fail  to  increase  the 
agitation  which  it  was  designed  to  provoke. 

Then  followed  the  era  of  petitions  from  the  North,  which  were  multiplied  as  re- 
pulses to  the  insults  heaped  upon  their  authors,  by  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his  southern 
coadjutors.  They,  in  turn,  avenged  themselves  upon  the  petitions  by  denunciatory 
speeches,  by  refusing  to  print,  by  laying  them  upon  the  table  without  reading,  by 


S3 


subjecting  them  to  every  species  of  parliamentary  contempt.  All  this  exaspera- 
tion, which  Mr.  Calhoun  had  taken  such  an  active  share  in  propagating  throughout 
the  class  with  which  he  identified  himself,  did  not  compass  his  object. 

The  great  body  of  the  people,  North  and  South,  saw  that  he  aimed  to  reach  the 
Presidency  by  combining  the  whole  vote  of  the  South  in  his  favor,  and  putting  it 
in  the  attitude  of  abandoning  the  Union,  unless  the  North  would  call  the  great 
nullifier  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  io  prevent  it.  The  intrigue  of  selfish  ambition 
was  so  apparent  in  all  his  management,  that  Mr.  Calhoun  could  not  unite  the  South 
in  his  support.  It  valued  the  Union  much  more  than  it  did  Mr.  Calhoun,  and 
would  not  put  it  in  jeopardy  to  make  the  experiment  he  proposed.  It  saw,  too, 
that  there  was  not  the  slightest  inclination  on  the  part  of  any  northern  state  to 
trespass  on  the  rights  of  their  brethren  of  the  South — that  the  panic  about  incen- 
diary documents  was  a  mere  feint — that  all  the  abolition  pamphlets  were  but  waste 
paper.  If  they  had  any  effect,  it  was  to  make  the  master  more  severe,  and  the 
slave  more  servile. 

Having  in  vain  tried  to  make  the  subserviency  of  the  slaveholder  throughout  the 
South  pander  to  his  selfish  designs,  as  it  did  in  South  Carolina,  mischance  at  last 
gave  Mr.  Calhoun  the  opportunity  to  touch  a  chord,  to  which  the  feelings  of  slave- 
owners everywhere  responded.  It  awakened  the  ambition  of  the  whole  oligarchy 
of  the  South.  The  conquest  of  new  dominions  for  slavery  touched  that  fibre  in 
the  heart,  which,  unhappily  for  the  peace  of  mankind,  is  too  much  alive  in  every 
bosom.  Mr.  Calhoun,  as  the  head  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration,  (a  place  which 
was  opened  to  him  by  the  hand  of  death),  urged  the  annexation  of  Texas,  as  offer- 
ing a  field  to  the  South  for  the  propagation  of  slavery,  and  opening  its  way  to  in- 
definite extension  towards  the  West.  He  seized  the  occasson  to  address  a  letter  to 
Lord  Aberdeen,  declaring  this  to  be  the  purpose  of  the  annexation,  and  another  to 
Mr.  King,  our  minister  to  France,  in  which  he  expatiated  upon  the  advantages  of 
slavery.  Thus  offering,  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe,  an  insult  to  the  honest  principles 
on  which  our  Revolutionary  Fathers  and  the  authors  of  the  Constitution  founded 
our  government. 

These  patriots  would  not  allow  the  word  slave  to  be  found  in  our  Constitution. 
They  provided  for  the  extinction  of  the  slave  trade  as  a  piracy.  They  prohibited 
it  from  every  territory  belonging  to  the  Union.  Mr.  Calhoun  coveted  new  terri- 
tories only  to  afford  room  for  its  expansion,  and  made  it  his  shameless  boast  to  the 
world,  that  the  power  we  had  acquired  as  freemen,  under  the  lead  of  patriots,  who 
had  shed  their  blood  to  establish  the  principle  that  "  all  men  were  born  free  and 
equal,"  was  now  to  be  employed  to  spread  slavery  over  a  continent.  Here,  for 
the  first  time,  Mr.  Calhoun  succeeded  in  drawing  to  his  purposes  the  whole  slave- 
holding  interest,  as  well  without  as  within  South  Carolina. 

The  ambition  of  conquest,  especially,  in  those  taught  to  domineer  in  their  nurses' 
arms,  cannot  resist  the  tempting  invitation  to  take  cheap  glory  and  rich  spoils 
from  a  weak  people.  Besides,  we  had  a  claim  to  Texas.  It  was  already  a  slave 
state,  and  it  was  not  then  suspected  that  Mr.  Calhoun  looked  beyond  its  boundaries 
to  take  new  provinces,  and  extend  slavery  into  Mexico.  His  avowed  principle, 
therefore,  was  supposed  to  be  limited  by  the  practical  result  to  which  they  were 
immediately  applicable  ;  and  men  who  had  no  thought  of  conquering  Mexico  to 
convert  it  again  into  a  land  of  slaves,  cordially  co  operated  in  bringing  Texas  into 
the  Union.  The  scheme  was  then  meditated,  the  consequences  of  which  are  now 
before  us,  and  which  Mr,  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  has  declared,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  looks  to  the  absorption  of  Mexico,  Nicaragua  and  Cuba. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  produced  the  war  with  Mexico,  which  fully  developed 
the  ambition  of  the  slave-holding  interest  for  extended  dominion.  It  was  not  sat- 
isfied with  the  acquisition  of  the  rich  state  of  Texas.  It  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
pledge  given  by  Congress  that  four  additional  slave  states  should  be  created  out 
of  territory  conquered  from  Mexico,  between  the  limits  of  Texas  as  they  stood  be- 
fore the  war  and  the  Rio  Grande,  and  other  unsettled  regions  extending  along  the 
line  of  36  deg.  30  min.  to  New  Mexico.  Mr.  Calhoun  and  his  partizans  threatened 
to  sever  the  Union  if  California  was  admitted  as  a  free  state  on  demand  of  its  citi- 
zens, unless  all  New  Mexico  were  opened  to  slaveiy. 

It  is  proper  to  look  back  to  the  successful  means  employed  by  Mr.  Calhoun  and 
his  friends,  which  enabled  them  to  press  such  arrogant  demands.  Mr.  Calhoun 
had  made  the  slave-holders  a  perfect  southern  phalanx  by  making  it  manifest  that 
thorough  concert  of  action  among  them  was  essential  to  achieve  their  contemplated 
conquest ;  and  it  was  also  impressed,  as  another  pre-requisite,  that  they  must  have 
control  of  the  federal  administration,  and  to  accomplish  this  a  combination  of  per- 
sonal interests  must  be  contrived,  to  dissolve  the  adhesion  of  party  principles. 
With  these  ends  Mr.  Caihoun,  the  actual  head  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration,  called 
a  convention  of  delegates,  appointed  by  the  officeholders  in  all  the  States,  to 
meet  at  Baltimore  contemporaneously  with  the  Democratic  Convention  chosen  to 
nominate  a  successor  to  Mr.  Tyler.  The  Texas  question  was  employed  to  produce 
■^dWm-th^JQemo^  Convention,  a.  majority  of  which  had  hsen  inarmed  to 


34 


announce  Mr.  Van  Buren  as  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The  two-thirds  rule ' 
was  adopted  to  defeat  his  nomination. 

It  is  now  avowed  by  one  of  the  South  Carolina  delegation,  that  Mr.  Polk  owed 
his  nomination  to  Mr.  Calhoun's  friends.  Colonel  Pickens  and  Mr.  Elmore,  from 
South  Carolina,  attended  as  delegates,  and  laid  their  credentials  on  the  table,  but 
did  not  become  members,  preferring  to  stand  aloof,  and  not  be  bound  by  the  deci- 
sion of  the  body.  "While  exerting  their  influence  to  control  the  result,  they  inti- 
mated that  unless  the  man  they  would  support  should  become  the  candidate,  the 
nullifiers  who  controlled  the  Texas  movement  would  defeat  his  election.  Pledges 
were  made  on  all  sides,  and  Mr.  Polk  was  nominated.  But  to  make  sure  that  the 
pledges-  of  Mr.  Polk's  friends  w6uld  be  faithfully  redeemed,  Mr.  Tyler's  nomina- 
tion, which  was  made  in  the  convention  of  officeholders,  then  at  hand  and  in  ses- 
sion, was  proclaimed  and  held  in  suspense,  to  be  resorted  to  in  case  of  faltering 
on  the  part  of  Mr.  Polk.  The  skill  with  which  Mr.  Calhoun,  sitting  in  his  cabinet, 
managed  this  double  nomination  between  a  President  in  esse,  and  a  President  in 
futuro,  for  the  same  place,  gives  admirable  proof  of  his  dexterity  in  political  in- 
trigue. The  point  he  had  in  view  was,  to  make  the  power  which  he  could  enable 
Mr.  Tyler  to  wield  over  the  vote  of  the  South,  extort  from  Mr.  Polk  whatever 
concessions  the  nullifiers  might  demand,  as  the  price  of  Mr.  Tyler's  withdrawal,  to 
secure  Mr.  Polk's  election. 

The  editor  of  the  Globe  knew  nothing  of  the  secret  negotiations  pending  between 
Messrs.  Polk,  Calhoun  and  Tyler,  during  the  three  months  that  Mr.  Tyler  kept  the 
field,  nor,  indeed,  until  after  the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Polk.  He  did  not  understand 
why  Mr.  Calhoun,  just  at  that  time,  got  up  public  meetings  through  the  South,  pro- 
claiming a  secession  from  the  Union,  unless  the  tariff  of  1842  was  abandoned.  It 
was  the  tocsin  "to  draw  out  the  train  bands  of  nullification,  to  enable  Mr.  Tyler  to 
threaten  Mr.  Polk  with  opposition  in  that  quarter.  The  editor  of  the  Globe 
denounced  this  movement,  and  the  abuses  of  Mr.  Tyler's  administration,  because 
Mr.  Calhoun's  friends,  who  were  connected  with  them,  professed  to  be  friends  of 
Mr.  Polk.  Had  not  the  Globe  taken  a  course  to  show  that  there  was  no  collusion 
between  Mr.  Polk  and  the  authors  of  what  so  offended  the  public,  the  election 
would  have  been  lost.  Mr.  Calhoun  thus  compelled  the  Globe  to  take  the  course 
which  gave  a  pretext  for  Mr.  Tyler  to  complain  of  its  conductor,  and  to  appeal  to 
Mr  Polk  to  make  a  pledge,  that  it  should  not  be  the  organ  of  his  administration 
in  case  Mr.  Tyler  withdrew  to  secure  his  election,  but  that  he  would  appoint  one 
favorable  to  Mr.  Calhoun  and  himself,  in  consideration  of  the  sacrifice  of  their 
present  prospects  to  his  success. 

This  was  the  mode  in  which  Mr.  Calhoun  reached  his  great  desideratum.  At  last 
he  had  succeeded  in  making  a  thorough  combination  among  the  slave-owners  of  the 
South,  animated  in  his  cause  by  the  hope  of  new  conquests,  and  he  had  obtained  in 
advance  a  guaranty  of  authority  over  the  official  organ  of  the  Executive,  as  a  host- 
age, to  control  the  succeeding  administration. 

To  show  the  importance  which  Mr.-  Calhoun  attached  to  the  command  of  the 
official  organ  of  the  democracy  at  Washington  will  require  some  detail  and  proof. 
This  may  be  tedious ;  but  as  all  the  existing  troubles  of  the  country  are  to  be  traced  to 
'the  disorganization  and  overthrow  of  that  party,  and  the  substitution  of  the  powers 
of  the  nullifiers  in  its  stead,  although  prolix,  personal  and  somewhat  savoring  of 
egotism,  the  devolopment  may  be  excused  as  necessary. 

Mr.  Rives  says,  in  a  correspondence  of  his  with  Mr.  Ritchie,  in  January,  1851  : 
"  A  gentleman  of  high  standing  (Col.  Pickens)  warned  me,  and  through  me  Mr. 
Blair,  that  he  intended  to  use  all  honorable  means  to  get  rid  of  him  as  .editor  of  the 
Globe,  on  account  of  his  opposition  to  southern  men  and  southern  measures."  This 
conversation,  between  Col  Pickens  and  Mr.  Rives,  took  place  in  Washington,  on  his 
way  home  from  the  Baltimore  Convention,  where  he  had  contributed  to  the  nomi- 
nation of  Mr.  Polk.  To  accomplish  this  purpose,  Col.  Pickens  paid  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Polk,  in  Tennessee— but  to  prepare  the  way  for  it  a  letter  was  written  by  Mr. 
Walker,  afterwards  Mr.  Polk's  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  purpose  of  which  is 
disclosed  in  the  following  passage  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Polk  to  Gen.  Jackson,  dated 

"  Columbia,  July  23d,  1844. 

"  My  dear  Sir  :  I  received  on  yesterday  the  enclosed  letter  from  Mr.  Senator  Walker,  of  Mississippi. 
I  have  communicated  its  contents,  confidentially,  to  my  friend,  General  Pillow,  who  will  hand  you 
this  letter,  and  who  will  confer  with  you  in  regard  to  the  steps  proper  to  be  taken,  if  anything  should 
be  done  in  reference  to  its  suggestions.  General  Pillow  is  my  friend,  and  an  honorable  and  reliable 
man,  with  whom  you  may  safely  communicate  freely. 

"  The  object  which  Mr.  Walker  desires  to  attain  is  an  important  one,  and  yet  occupying  the  position 
which  I  do,  it  is  one  of  so  much  delicacy  that  I  do  not  see  how  I  could  write  on  the  subject  to  any 
one.  I  submit  it  to  your  better  judgment  what  you  may  deem  it  proper  to  do.  The  main  object  in  the 
way  of  Mr.  T.'s  withdrawal  seems  to  be  the  course  of  the  Globe  towards  himself  and  his  friends  There 
is  certainly  no  necessity  for  the  Globe  to  continue  its  attacks  upon  him  or  his  administration.  A 
separate  Tyler  ticket  might  put  in  jeopardy  the  vote  of  several  closely  contested  states,  and  perhaps 
affect  the  final  result.  Surely  Mr.  Blair,  of  the  Globe,  can  be  induced  to  cease  his  war  upon  the  admin- 
istration during  the  pendency  of  the  contest  at  least." 

It  will  be  seen  that  nothing  more  of  the  dealing  between  Mr.  Polk  and  Mr. 


35 


should  "  be  induced  to  cease  his  war  upon  the  administration  during  the  pendency 
of  the  contest  at  least the  circumstances,  then  concealed,  have  since  come  to 
light,  showing  that  a  bargain  was  then  struck,  that  the  Globe's  war  should  cease 
forever,  and  that  an  organ,  friendly  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  should  be  substituted  for  the 
Globe.  These  disclosures  were  first  indicated  subsequently  to  Mr.  Polk's  election, 
by  approaches  to  General  Jackson,  to  reconcile  him  to  the  abandonment  of  the  de- 
mocratic organ  which  he  had  established  at  Washington,  as  a  bulwark  against  the 
machinations  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  to  destroy  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  to  effect 
which,  the  Press,  of  Duff  Green,  had  been  first  devoted  by  him.  Not  a  breath  as 
to  the  motives  of  Colonel  Pickens'  visit  to  Mr.  Fo^k  (which  followed  immediately 
after  the  letter  of  Mr.  Walker  to  Mr.  Polk,  containing  the  proposals  of  Mr.  Tyler's 
withdrawal,)  was  suffered  to  reach  the  ears  of  General  Jackson ;  but  after  the  elec- 
tion in  December,  rumors  of  a  design  to  make  a  change  in  the  organ  reached  him 
through  General  Armstrong,  who  was  sent  to  break  it  to  him.  General  Armstrong, 
though  affecting  to  sympathise  with  General  Jackson's  feelings  and  wishes,  was,  in 
fact,  entirely  devoted  to  Mr.  Polk,  and  shared  in  all  his  collusion  with  Calhoun  and 
Tyler,  and  was  rewarded  for  it  first  by  the  rich  consulate  at  Liverpool,  and  reapedv 
his  last  harvest  as  editor  of  the  Union,  in  the  service  of  the  nullifiers.  General 
Jackson  divulges  what  General  Armstrong  represented  as  rumor,  but  what  was 
really  the  concocted  plans  settled  upon  by  the  coalition  of  Camoun,  Tyler  and 
Polk,  in  a  letter  dated  Hermitage,  14th  December,  1844,  in  which  he  says  : 

****»«  Our  mutual  friend,  Gen.  Robert  Armstrong,  spent  a  part  of  yesterday  with  me,  from 
whom  I  confidentially  iearned  some  movements  of  some  of  our  democratic  friends,  not  of  wisdom, 
but  of  folly,  that  would  at  once  separate  the  democratic  party  and  destroy  Polk,  and  would  of  course 
drive  you  from  the  support  of  Polk's  administration  and  separate  the  democratic  party.  I  forthwith 
wrote  Col.  Polk  upon  the  subject,  and  am  sure  he  will  view  it  as  I  do,  a  wicked  and  concerted  move- 
ment for  Mr.  Calhoun's  and  Mr.  Tyler's  political  benefit.  It  is  this,  to  amalgamate  the  Madisonian 
and  what  was  the  Spectator,  and  make  that  paper  the  organ  of  the  government  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  Globe.  I  am  sure  Polk,  when  he  hears  it,  will  feel  as  indignant  at  the  plot  as  I  do.  I  will  vouch 
for  one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  Mr.  Calhoun  will  not  be  one  of  Poik's  cabinet,  nor  any  aspirant  to  the 
Presidency.  This  is  believed  to  spring  from  Mr.  Rhett's  brain,  inculcated  into  the  brain  of  some  of 
our  pretended  democratic  politicians  who  want  to  be  great  men,  but  will  never  reach  that  height. 

"  As  your  friend  on  the  political  watch-tower,  I  give  you  this  confidential  information,  and  by  silence 
and  care  you  will  soon  fiud  the  secret  movers  of  this  weak  and  wicked  measure,  that  would  at  once 
divide  and  distract  the  Republican  party  and  dissolve  it — unless  the  measures  we  have  adopted  here 
may  put  it  down,  you  will  soon  see  the  movement  in  Washington,  and  1  hope,  if  attempted,  the  whole 
democracy  will  rally  around  the  Globe  and  prostrate  the  viper  forever.  Thi3  intrigue  puts  me  in 
mind  of  Mr.  Calhoun's  treachery  to  me  and  well  worthy  a  disciple  of  his. 

"  But  there  is  another  project  on  foot  as  void  of  good  sense  and  benefit  to  the  democratic  cause  as 
the  other,  but  not  as  wicked,  proceeding  from  weak  and  inexperienced  mind3.  Ic  is  this  :  to  bring 
about  a  partnership  between  you  and  Mr.  Ritchie,  you  to  continue  proprietor,  and  Ritchie  the  editor. 
This,  to  me,  is  a  most  extraordinary  conception  coming  from  any  well-informed  mind  or  experienced 
politician.  It  is  true  Mr.  Ritchie  is  an  experienced  editor,  but  sometimes  goes  off  at  half-cock  before 
he  sees  the  whole  ground,  and  does  the  party  great  injury  before  he  sees  his  error,  and  then  has  great 
difficulty  to  get  back  into  the  right  track  again.  Witness  his  course  on  my  removal  of  the  deposits, 
and  how  much  injury  he  did  us  before  he  got  into  the  right  track  again.  Another  faux  pas  he  made 
when  he  went  off  with  Rives  and  the  conservatives,  and  advocated  for  the  safe  keeping  of  the  public 
revenue  special  deposits  in  the  state  banks,  as  if  where  the  directory  were  corrupt  there  could  be  any- 
more security  in  special  deposits  in  corrupt  banks  than  in  general  deposits,  and  it  was  some  time  be- 
fore this  great  absurdity  could  be  beat  out  of  his  mind. 

"  These  are  visionary  measures  of  what  I  call  weak  politicians,  who  suggest  them,  but-  who  wish  to 
become  great  by  foolish  changes.  Polk,  I  believe,  will  stick  by  you  faithfully  ;  should  he  not,  he  is 
lo3t ;  but  I  have  no  fears  but  that  he  will,  and  being  informed  confidentially  of  this  movement,  may 
have  it  in  his  power  to  put  it  all  down.  One  thing  I  know,  General  Armstrong  and  myseif,  with  all 
our  influence,  will  stick  by  you  to  the  last.  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  name  names,  but  you  will  be  able 
by  silent  watchfulness  to  discover  those  concerned,  because  the  amalgamation  of  the  Madisonuin 
with  Mr.  Rhett's  paper  will  be  at  once  attempted  to  be  put  in  operation  to  carry  out  Mr.  Tyler's  ad- 
ministration, and  attempt  to  become  the  administration  paper  under  Polk,  and  the  copartnership  be- 
tween you  and  Mr.  Ritchie  broached  to  you  by  some  of  your  friends  and  his.  I  therefore  give  you 
this  information  that  you  may  not  be  taken  by  surprise.  There  will  be  great  intrigue  going  on  at 
Washington  this  winter,  and  if  I  mistake  not  Mr.  Polk,  he  will  throw  the  whole  to  the  bats  and  to  the 
wind.  He  has  energy  enough  to  give  himself  elbow  room,  under  all  and  any  circumstances,  and  you 
may?rest  assured  he  will  have  none  in  his  cabinet  that  are  aspiring  to  the  Presidency.  I  write  in 
confidence,  and  will  soon  again  write  you.  You  may  rest  assured  in  my  friendship— all  the  politicians 
on  earth  can  never  shake  it.  I  wish  to  see  you  the  organ  of  the  democratic  party  as  long  as  you  own 
a  paper,  and  as  long  a3  the  party  is  true  to  itself  you  will  be  its  organ,  and  true  to  its  principles. 
"  I  am  very  weak,  and  must  close.  "  Your  friend,  truly,  Andrew  Jackson." 

On  the  28th  of  February,  he  recurs  to  the  subject  with  great  surprise,  at  learning 
that  a  particular  friend  of  Col.  Polk's  is  enlisted  in  Mr.  Calhoun's  organ.  He  says, 
in  this  letter  of  the  28th  February,  1845  : 

"  Hermitage,  February  28, 1S45! 
********** 
"  My  dear  Blair  :  For  the  first  time  on  the  22d  inst.,  I  was  informed  that  Col.  Laughlin  had  gone  to 
the  city  of  Washington  to  become  interested  in  the  Madisonian.  If  this  is  true,  it  will  astonish  me 
greatly.  Some  time  ago  I  did  learn  that  there  was  a  project  on  foot  to  unite  the  Madisonian  and 
the  Constitution,  and  make  it  the  organ  of  the  Executive.  Another  plan  is  to  get  Mr.  Ritchie  inter- 
ested as  editor  of  the  Globe—  all  of  which  I  gave  you  an  intimation  of,  and  which  I  thought  had  been 
put  down.  But  that  any  leading  democrat  here  had  any  thought  of  becoming  interested  in  the  Ma- 
disonian, to  make  it  the  organ  of  the  Administration,  was  such  a  thing  as  I  could  not  believe  ;  as 
common  sense  at  once  pointed  out,  as  a  consequence,  that  it  would  divide  the  democracy,  and  destroy 
Polk's  administration-  Why,  it  would  blow  him  up.  The  moment  I  heard  it,  I  adopted  such  measures 
as  I  trust  have  put  an  end  to  it,  as  I  know  nothing  could  be  so  injurious  to  Col.  Polk  and  his  adminis- 
h^^^^^|^^^oi^^noT^nen^vihMDethe^ 


36 


can  do  you  but  little  harm.  A  few  subscribers  may  withdraw,  but  it  will  add  one  hundred  per  cent, 
to  your  subscription  list  in  one  month  after  it  is  known.  If  true,  it  would  place  Col.  Polk  in  the  shoes 
of  Mr.  Tyler.      *      *      *      *    •         "  Your  friend,  sincerely,  Andrew  Jackson." 

Four  days  afterwards,  in  a  letter,  he  alludes  to  the  efforts  he  had  made  to  prevent 
Mr.  Polk  from  entering  into  this-  coalition  with  Tyler  and  Calhoun  : 

"  Hermitage,  March  3, 1845. 
*  *  *  *  "  In  my  letter  I  said  to  you  I  had  taken  a  firm  and  immediate  stand  to  put  it  down.  I 
wrote  to  Col.  Polk  a  frank  and  friendly  letter,  bringing  to  his  view  the  attitude  that  making  the  Ma- 
disonian  the  administration  paper  would  place  him  in.  It  would  be  in  the  shoes  of  Tyler,  and  split 
the  democracy,  and  blow  him  and  his  administration  sky-high.  There  is  less  common  sense  in  this 
than  I  could  conceive.  But  I  trust  Col.^Polk,  on  the  receipt  of  my  letter,  will  crush  this  Tyler  and 
Calhoun  movement  in  the  bud.    *     *     *  "  I  am  truly  your  fi  iend,      Asdrew  Jackson." 

From  a  succession  of  letters  which  I  received  from  him  in  the  months,,  of  March 
and  April,  it  is  evident  he  was  constantly  exerting  his  influence  to  avert  the  mis- 
chief, to  what  he  called  the  "  Republican  Party,"  threatened  in  the  surrender  of  the 
Globe  by  Mr.  Polk,  and  the  adoption  of  the  Calhoun  organ  to  represent  his  adminis- 
tration." The  following  letter,  of  the  9th  of  April,  exhibits  the  whole  dramatis 
personce  engaged  in  the  intrigue.  It  is  given  in  full.  The  names  which  appear  in 
this  letter,  and  the  attendant  circumstances,  throw  light  on  the  whole  transaction : 

"  Hermitage,  April  9, 1845. 

"  My  dear  Mr.  Blair  :  I  have  been  quite  sick  for  several  days— my  feet  and  legs  much  swollen,  and 
it  has  reached  my  hands  and  abdomen,  and  it  may  be  that  my  iife  ends  in  dropsy.  All  means  hither- 
to used  to  stay  the  swelling  have  now  failed  to  check  it — be  it  so.  I  am  fully  prepared  to  say  the 
Lord's  will  be  done.  My  mind,  since  ever  I  heard  of  the  attitude  the  President  had  assumed  with 
you  as  editor  of  the  Globe,  which  was  the  most  unexpected  thing  I  ever  met  with,  my  mind  has  been 
troubled,  and  it  was  not  only  unexpected  by  me,  but  has  shown  less  good  common  sense  by  the  Presi- 
dent than  any  act  of  his  life,  and  calculated  to  divide  instead  of  uniting  the  democracy,  which  ap- 
pears to  be  his  reason  for  urging  this  useless  and  foolish  measure  at  the  very  threshold  of  his  ad- 
ministration, and  when  everything  appeared  to  augur  well  for,  to  him,  a  prosperous  administration. 
The  President,  here,  before  he  set  out  for  Washington,  must  have  been  listening  to  the  secret  counsels 
of  some  political  cliques,  such  as  Calhoun  .or  Tyler  cliques,  (for  there  are  such  here),  or  after  he 
reached  Washington  some  of  the  secret  friends  of  some  of  the  aspirants  must  have  gotten  hold  of  his 
ear  and  spoiled  his  common  sense,  or  he  never  would  have  made  such  a  movement  so  uncalled-for, 
and  well-calculated  to  sever  the  democracy  by  calling  down  upon  himself  suspicions,  by  the  act  of  se- 
cretly favoring  some  of  the  political  cliques  who  are  looking  to  the  succession  ior  some  favorite.  I 
have  in  my  confidential  letters,  and  particularly  that  of  the  4th  inst.,  brought  fully  to  his  view,  in  my 
plain  common-sense  way,  his  situation,  and  ask  him  at  last  how  he  can  justify  his  course  to  you — to 
the  real  democracy  that  sustained  my  administration  and  Mr.  Van  Buren's. 

"  I  brought  to  his  view,  that  when  I  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment, Duff  Green  was  the  democratic  editor,  whose  object  was  to  heat  the  executive  chair  by  me  for 
Mr.  Calhoun,  lie  was  the  executive  organ  until  I  found  he  was  doing  my  administration  injury  and 
dividing  the  democratic  ranks ;  that  the  Globe,  with  you  its  editor,  took  Duff  Green's  place.  That 
you  and  Colonel  Polk  went  hand  in  hand  in  sustaining  all  my  measures,  with  ability  and  zeal— both 
advocated  the  election  of  Mi-.  Van  Buren,  and  went  hand  in  bond  in  sustaining  his  administration — 
united  in  his  support  for  a  second  term— that  ever  since  the  Colonel's  name  was  announced  as  the 
nominee  of  the  Baltimore  Convention,  you  have  given  him  an  undeviating  support,  and  I  have  fully 
explained  to  him  how  your  paper  has  been  drawn  astray  from  your  own  matured  views  on  the  Texas 
question.  I  then  conclude  by  asking  him  what  excuse  can  he  give  to  the  old  substantial  Jackson  and 
Van  Buren  democrats  for  not  letting  you  and  your  paper  go  on  as  his  organ  until  you  are  in  some 
fault,  and  then,  as  I  did  Duff  Green,  turn  you  away.  I  ask,  have  you  (the  Colonel)  any  new  princi- 
ples other  than  those  you  have  always  advocated,  and  set  forth  in  your  inaugural,  to  bring  before  the 
people,  that  you  think  Mr.  Blair  will  oppose,  that  at  the  very  threshold  of  your  administration  you 
have  repudiated  Blair  and  his  Globe  from  being  your  organ.  I  know  this  cannot  be  the  case,  there- 
fore am  entirely  lost  to  conjecture  any  good  cause  for  your  unaccountable  course  to  Mr.  Blair,  and 
wind  up,  telling  him  there  is  but  one  safe  course  to  pursue — review  his  course,  send  for  you,  and  direct 
you  and  the  Globe  to  proceed  as  the  organ  of  the  administration,  give  you  all  his  confidence,  and  all 
would  be  well  and  end  well.  This  is  the  siibstance  ;  and  I  had  a  hope  on  the  receipt  of  this  letter, 
and  some  others  written  by  mutual  friends,  would  have  restored  all  things  to  harmony  and  confidence 
again.  I  rested  on  this  hope  until  the  7th,  when  I  received  yours  of  the  SCth,  and  two  confidential 
letters  from  the  President  directed  to  be  laid  before  me,  from  which  it  would  seem  that  the  purchase 
of  the  Globe,  and  to  get  clear  of  you,  as  editor,  is  the  great  absorbing  question  before  the  President. 
Well,  tclw  is  to  be  the  purchaser  f  Mr.  Ritchie  and  Major  A.  J.  Donelson,  it3  editors.  Query  as  to 
the  latter.  The  above  question  I  have  asked  the  President.  Is  that  renegade  politician,  Cameron, 
who  boasts  of  his  ?50,0u0  to  set  up  a  new  paper,  to  be  one  of  them? — who  is  a  bankrupt  in  politics, 
and  who  got  elected  senator  by  selling  himself  to  the  whigs  and  could  not  raise  $1,000  to  be  one  of  the 
proprietors  to  unite  the  democracy.  His  very  election  has  divided  ihem  in  Pennsylvania,  and  a  letter 
to  me  says  he  has  done  our  mutual  friend  Buchanan  much  injury,  he  being  charged  with  using  secretly 
his  influence  to  effect  it ;  or  would  Cameron's  ownership  in  part  unite  Horn,  Kane,  Leiper,  Dallas,  and 
a  host  of  other  old  time  democrats  in  your  expulsion?  What  delusion!  Or  is  Major  Walker,  of 
Tennessee,  to  be  the  purchaser?  Here  it;is  stated  he  is  vastly  encumbered  with  debt;  by  many,  a~ 
perfect  bankrupt.  "Who  is  to  purchase  and  where  is  the  money  to  come  from?  Is  Dr.  William  Gwin, 
the  satellite  of  Calhoun,  the  great  friend  of  R.  S.  Walker,  Secretary  of  Treasury,  a  perfect  bankrupt  in 
property  ?  My  own  opinion  is  that  the  contract  made,  the  money  cannot  be  raised,  and  the  Globe 
cannot  be  bought.  Vv  hat  then  ?  The  President  will  find  himself  in  a  dilemma,  have  to  apologise,  and 
the  Globe  be  the  organ,  and  Ritchie  will  return,  not  so  well  satisfied  with  the  sagacity  of  the  Adminis- 
tration as  when  he  left  Richmond.  These  are  my  speculations.  I  may  be  in  error.  I  would  like  to 
know  what  portion  of  the  Cabinet  are  supporting  and  advising  the  President  to  this  course,  where 
nothing  but  iujury  can  result  to  him  in  the  end,  and  division  in  his  cabinet,  arising  from  jealousy. 
What  political  clique  i3  to  be  benefitted?  My  dear  IrieDd,  let  me  know  all  about  the  cabinet,  and 
their  movement  on  this  subject.  How  loathsome  it  is  to  me  to  see  an  old  friend  laid  aside,  principles 
of  justice  and  friendship  forgotten,  and  all  for  the  sake  of  policy — and  the  great  Democratic  party 
divided  or  endangered  for  policy — and  that  a  mere  imaginery  policy,  that  must  tend  to  divide  the 
great  Democratic  party,  whilst  the  Whigs  are  secretly  rejoicing  at  the  prospects  of  disunion  in  our 
ranks.  I  declai  e  to  you,  it  is  a  course  that  common  sense  forbade  the  adoption,  when  the  administra- 
tion was  entering  on  its  career  with  so  much  harmony  and  prospect  of  success.  I  cannot  reflect  upon 
it  with  any  calmness;  everv  point  of  it  upon  scrutiny,  turns  to  harm  and  disunion,  and  not  one  bene- 


37 


"  This  may  be  the  last  letter  I  may  be  able  to  write  you ;  but  live  or  die,  I  am  your  friend,  (and 
never  deserted  one  from  policy,)  and  leave  my  papers  and  reputation  in  your  keeping.  As  far  as 
justice  is  due  to  my  fame,  I  know  you  will  shield  it.  I  ask  no  more.  I  rest  upon  truth,  and  require 
nothing  but  what  truth  will  mete  to  me.  All  my  household 'join  me  in  kind  wishes  for  your  health 
and  prosperity,  and  that  of  all  your  family,  and  that  you  may  triumph  over  all  enemies.  May  God's 
choicest  blessings  be  bestowed  upon  you  and  yours  through  life,  is  the  prayer  of  your  sincere  friend, 
"  F.  P.  Blair,  Esq."  "  Andrew  Jackson. 

The  first  slight  glimse  of  the  completion  of  the  arrangement  here  fully  develop- 
ed between  the  triumverates  had  been  given  immediately  after  Col.  Pickens  had 
made  his  visit  to  Col.  Polk.  A  convention  of  Mr.  Polk's  friends  assembled  soon 
afterwards  at  Nashville,  and  adopted  the  course  of  the  Globe  in  regard  to  the  nulli- 
fication meetings  in  South  Carolina. 

"  It  repelled  (said  Mr.  Polk's  Nashville  organ,  Mr.  Nicholson's  paper,  I  believe,) 
the  charge  of  disunion  against  the  real  democracy  with  indignation  and  contempt," 
<fec.  The  moment  after  the  return  of  Col.  Pickens  to  South  Carolina,  the  nullifica- 
tion outcry  was  hushed.  The  confederates  thus  united,  looked  upon  it  as  a, com- 
mon interest  to  quiet  the  North's  apprehensions  in  regard  to  the  disuniou  tendencies 
of  Mr.  Polk's  new  allies.  Mr.  Pit  kens's  successful  mission  was  immediately  followed 
by  Mr.  Tyler's  withdrawal  from  the  canvass. 

An  arrangement  having  been  thus  ratified  between  the  contracting  parties  for  an 
official  organ  in  the  interest  of  the  nullifying  party,  in  the  event  of  Mr.  Polk's  elec- 
tion, the  treasury  of  the  United  States,  on  the  4th  day  of  November,  1844,  (signs 
then  manifesting  the  strongest  probability  of  Mr.  Polk's  election,  placed  $50,000  in 
Mr.  Cameron's  bank,  at  a  village  nine  miles  from  Harrisburg,  to  make  provision  for 
the  purchase  of  the  press.  The  election  over,  Mr.  Cameron,  in  pursuance  of  the  ar- 
rangement, informed  Mr.  Donelson  by  letter,  that  heh&d  this  money  at  his  disposal, 
and  he  was  invited  by  the  President  to  avail  himself  of  it,  to  purchase  the  Globe, 
or  establish  another  press  at  Washington.  General  Jackson"  6aw  this  letter,  and 
got  his  first  glimpse  of  the  part  assigned  Mr.  Cameron. 

As  soon  as  the  new  President  arrived  in  Washington,  he  proposed  to  the  editor 
of  the  Globe  to  permit  Major  Donelson  to  take  his  place,  at  the  same  time  soliciting 
him  to  support  the  press  by  writing  for  it  secretly.  This  was  refused,  and  no 
doubt  in  consequence  of  General  Jackson's  opposition  to  Major  Donelson's  lending 
himself  and  the  influence  he  derived  from  the  General's  relationship,  he  also  de- 
clined the  proposal  of  entering  into  the  projects  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  hesitated  to 
avail  himself  of  the  means  put  at  his  disposal  by  Mr.  Cameron.  Mr.  Ritchie  was 
the  alternative  of  Major  Donelson.  The  latter  was,  doubtless,  preferred  by  Mr. 
Calhoun,  because  he  had  Been  associated  with  him  in  breaking  up  General  Jackson's 
first  cabinet.  That  the  confidential  relations  still  subsisted  which  so  signally 
marked  their  intercourse  in  the  beginning  of  General  Jackson's  administration,  this 
preference  gives  full  proof,  and  it  is  further  evinced  by  the  fact,  that  Mr.  Calhoun 
confided  to  him  the  execution  of  his  last  and  most  important  official  act — the  mid- 
night mission  of  the  3d  of  March  to  re-annex  Texas  to  the  United  States.  * 

The  number  of  distinguished  men  who  were  called  in  to  assist  at  the  birth  of  the 
organ  which  was  to  establish  the  southern  dynasty  by  "  placing  Col.  Polk  in  the 
shoes  of  Mr.  Tyler,"  marks  the  interest  which  all  the'eonfederates  took  in  the  sub- 
ject. Col.  Pickens,  Gen.  Pillow,  Mr.  Walker,  Mr.  Tyler,  Mr.  Calhoun,  Mr.  Rhett, 
Mr.  Cameron,  Major  Donelson,  Mr.  Ritchie,  Gen.  Armstrong,  Mr.  Nicholson,  (Mr. 
Nicholson,  I  believe  then  editor  of  the  Nashville  Polk  paper,)  all  figure  in  General 
Jackson's  letter,  as  having  their  share  in  the  travail.  Mr.  Buchanan,  it  appears 
from  a  letter  on  file  in  the  Treasury  Department,  was  not  allowed  to  escape  his 
part  of  the  responsibility  for  the  most  delicate  part  of  the  operation — the  taking 
the  $50,000  to  establish  an  orgiin.  Mr.  Tyler  was  willing  to  let  Mr.  Cameron 
have  the  $50,000  out  of  the  public  treasury  to  make  provision  for  the  political 
bantling  on  which  so  much  depended  ;  but  as  Mr.  Buchanan  was  to  become  a 
special  beneficiary  in  the  premiership,  it  was  considered  a  wise  precaution,  that 
he  should,  in  writing,  recommend  Mr.  Cameron  as  a  fit  recipient  of  this  grace 
from  the  administration,  and  of  trust  from  the  treasury. 

The  confidence  thus  reposed  in  Mr.  Cameron  all  around,  and  the  hold  it  gave 
him  on  Mr.  Buchanan,  elevated  him  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Possibly  the 
$50,000  helped,  as  he  only  advanced  out  of  it  the  first  instalment  for  the  Globe,  as 
appeared  from  his  testimony  before  a  committee.  The  money  was  not  refunded 
until  1847.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Cameron  was  purveyor  of  fat  jobs  for  the  press 
in  the  Senate,  and  some  in  which  he  was  himself  supposed  to  be  interested.  The 
government  was,  in  truth,  repaid  out  of  h  is  own  money.  A  gratuity  of  $50,000 
which  was  voted  to  Mr.  Ritchie  beyond  his  contracts,  through  the  influence  of  Mr. 
Douglas,  a  sort  of  outfit  for  private  life,  on  retiring  from  the  press. 

But  he  was  not  the  only  lucky  man  who  derived  dignity  and  emolument  from 
this  treasury  investment.  Mr.  Buchanan  became  Premier,  Mr.  Walker,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury ;  Messrs.  Calhoun,  Pickens  and  Elmore  were  severally  oflered  the 
mission  to  England  ;  Mr.  Ritchie,  Mr.  Donelson,  General  Armstrong  and  Mr.  Nichol- 


38 


through  its  instrumentality,  have  subjected  to  their  control  the  organization  of  the 
democratic  party  from  that  day  to  this.  In  virtue  of  it,  they  have  had  at  their 
command  the  high  stations  of  the  government  at  home  and  abroad.  And  the  pre- 
sent administration,  from  its  induction  to  this  hour,  has  been  under  the  dictation  of 
its  leaders. 

The  question  now  to  be  decided  before,  the  country  is,  whether  the  nullifiers  who 
have  thus  usurped  the  name  and  organization  of  the  democratic  party,  but  who 
have  no  principles  in  common  with  it,  shall  be  allowed  to  carry  out  their  designs 
in  such  disguise.  Their  leaders  on  every  question,  in  every  difficult  crisis  of  the 
country,  from  the  commencement  of  General  Jackson's  administration,  have  been 
against  the  democracy, 

Who  are  the  leaders  in  the  South  who  now  make  such  loud  professions  of  demo- 
cracy ?  Who  are  they  that  repeat  the  word  in  chorus  and  have  made  it  a  party 
sing-song  ?  Men  who  never  were  democrats,  but  abhorred  the  name  when  it  rallied 
the  country  around  an  administration  that  was  true  to  the  representative  principle, 
to  the  popular  will,  to  the  cause  of  free  government,  and  now  use  it  only  to  cover 
broken  faith  to  constituents  and  violated  compacts  between  States. 

The  leading  men  in  Virginia  at  this  time,  are  Hunter  and  Mason,  its  senators, 
and  Wise,  its  governor.  What  were  they  in  the  days  of  conflict  for  the  democracy, 
during  the  administrations  of  Jackson  and  Van  Bureu — Hunter,  a  thorough  Cal- 
houn nullifier,  Mason,  a  mock  conservative  of  the  Rives  and  Talmage  stamp.  Wise, 
siding  with  Calhoun  at  every  step  in  his  deadly  warfare  against  Jackson  and  Van 
Buren.  Mr.  Clingman,  now  a  most  prominent  chief  in  North  Carolina,  in  a  late 
letter,  bottoms  his  adhesion,  and  claims  to  the  honors  of  the  democracy  of  this  day, 
on  its  hostility  to  that  which  recognizes  Van  Buren,  Benton  and  Blair,  among  its 
followers. 

Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  who  has  inherited  Mr.  Calhoun's  place  in  his  State 
and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  a  letter  of  instructions,  has  given  this  list 
of  dignataries  who  wield  the  truncheon  of  the  Palmetto  democracy,  from  which  he 
advises  that  the  delegates  to  the  Cincinnati  Convention  be  drawn.  He  says:  "  Let 
the  State  send  her  very  first  men — such  as  Governor  Richardson,  Colonel  Pickens, 
Governor  Hammond,  Mr.  Brownwell,  Mr.  Rhett,  Governor  Means,  General  Wallace, 
Mr.  Woodward,  General  Thompson,  Richard  Simpson,  General  Rogers.  These 
gentlemen  have  reputations  of  something  like  Curule  dignity."  Gentlemen  of 
"  Curule  dignity,"  in  the  days  of  Roman  grandeur,  were  personages  exalted  by 
official  station  to  the  privilege  of  riding  in  a  certain  class  of  chariots,  from  the  name 
of  which  that  of  their  distinction  was  derived.  Now,  the  whole  body  appointed  to 
go  to  Cincinnati  to  dictate  a  President  for  the  democracy  derive  their  "  Curule  dig- 
nity "  entirely  from  having  ridden  with  Mr.  Calhoun  in  his  nullifying  car. 

Mr.  Butler,  while  providing  delegates  to  nominate  a  Presidential  candidate  at 
Cincinnati,  is  too  honest  to  conceal  a  sneer  at  his  fellowship  with  a  name  against 
which  his  political  sentiments  revolt.  He  hates  ail  pretension  to  democracy  on  the 
part  of  his  state,  whose  institutions  are  entirely  at  war  with  its  principles,  and  he 
declares  he  would  have  preferred  her  "  keeping  aloof"  "  avoiding  the  amalgamation 
of  mass  meetings,  in  which  democratic  numbers  must  move  stronger  than  constitutional 
weight.  I  wish"  he  adds,  "South  Carolina  could  have  retained  her  constitutional 
identity,  maintaining  doctrines  that  could  survive  a  constitution — that  should  give  se- 
curity and  equality."  The  equality  in  "  constitutional  weight"  here  meant  is  that 
which  would  put  down  the  doctrine  of  a  majority  governing  in  republics.  In  this 
the  nullifier  speaks  out. 

Mr.  Butler  and  General  Atchison  are  the  real  authors  of  the  Kansas  act,  but  they 
never  meant  that  the  majority  rule  provided  in  the  law  should  supplant  the  weight 
which  the  constitutional  equality  of  the  South  would  bring  to  bear  it  down,  by 
adding  force,  and  arms,  and  tactics  to  overcome  the  masses.  These  gentlemen, 
while  maturing  their  measures,  lived  together  in  the  city,  in  the  closest  intimacy, 
and  now  following  the  custom  of  the  Roman  consuls,  (Mr.  Butler  will  pardon  the 
allusion),  one  takes  the  field  to  carry  out  their  plans,  while  the  other  remains  in 
the  Senate  to  give  support  to  his  absent  colleague.  These  two  are  the  heirs  of  Mr. 
Calhoun's  designs.  His  Octavius  and  Antony.  They  are  the  masters  of  the  ad- 
ministration, and  may  stand  for  the  representatives  at  large  of  the  spurious  Demo- 
cracy. 

Georgia,  next  to  South  Carolina,  holds  most  sway  in  the  new  party ;  and  Messrs. 
Toombs,  Stevens,  and  Dawson  are  confessedly  the  commanding  men  in  that  state. 
Where  did  they  study  for  their  democratic  diploma  ?  In  the  school  of  every  op- 
position that  ever  assailed  the  party  re-established  by  Jackson. 

Florida  presents  Mr.  Yulee,  as  its  senator  and  minister,  to  support  the  new  order  , 
of  democracy  originated  in  South  Carolina,  and  by  adoption  the  President's  demo- 
cracy.   He  was  a  devout  worshipper  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  and  his  faith  is  his  religion.  CiAfJ 

The  party  in  Louisiana  acknowledges  Mr.  Soule  as  its  leader.    A  malcontent 
from  France,  who,  as  Minister  of  the  United  States,  insulted  the  governments  of  


39 


pending  for  its  success  on  the  good  will  of  both  ! — and  then  proposed  in  the  Ostend 
conference  to  ravish  it  by  force  from  the  arms  of  Spain,  on  the  ground  of  necessity ! ! 
This  gentleman  carries  the  delegation  of  Louisiana  to  choose  a  President  for  the 
democracy  ;  a  function  to  which  he  is  recommended  by  the  boldest  speeches  for  se- 
cession made  during  the  debate  on  the  compromise  of  1850. 

Two  military  chieftains  hold  Mississippi  under  a  sort  of  martial  law.  The  Secre- 
tary of  War  is  provided  in  advance  to  represent  her  in  the  Senate  during  the  next 
\  administration,  and  for  the  present  he  commands  in  the  cabinet.  In  the  Senate,  at 
the  session  of  1850,  he  out-Heroded  the  Herod  of  South  Carolina  in  pressing  to- 
wards secession.  He  had  taken  all  but  the  last  step,  that  of  walking  out  of  the 
Senate  and  the  Union  with  his  hat  in  one  hand  and  his  state  in  the  other.  His 
second  in  the  command  of  the  Mississippi  democracy,  General  Quitman,  also 
caught  the  pronunciamento  infection  from  Mexican  Santa  Anna  and  the  heroes  of 
his  cast.  General  Quitman,  it  is  thought,  would  have  been  content  to  take  him- 
self out  of  the  Union  for  the  sake  of  Cuba,  and  leave  our  poor  republic  to  shift 
for  itself.  He  could  not  compass  his  wish,  and  he  remains  to  conquer  the  North 
for  the  South,  making  filibustering  in  Kansas,  non-intervention,  and  the  putting 
down  of  the  ballot  box,  the  test  of  popular  sovereignty. 

In  Tennessee,  Senator  Jones  and  other  inveterate  enemies  of  General  Jackson 
have  supplanted  the  old  democracy. 

These  are  the  heads  that  manage  the  political  concerns  of  the  slaveholders' 
party,  and  managing  them  fatally  for  their  ultimate  interests.  They  have  put 
"  the  democracy  proper"  (to  use  Gen.  Jackson's  expression,  to  distinguish  those  he 
relied  on  from  the  Calhoun  pretenders  to  the  name)  under  foot.  They  hold  the 
administration  under  the  thumb,  and  every  other  Presidential  aspirant  at  the 
North,  looking  to  the  Cincinnati  Convention,  and  the  fifty  thousand  office-holders 
who  seek  to  retain  their  stations  and  expect  their  preservation  from  the  election  of 
some  one  of  these  aspirants,  compose  the  rank  and  file  of  their  northern  mercen- 
aries, whom  Mr.  Cushing  may  be  said  to  represent,  having  first  figured  in  Mr.  Ty- 
ler's corporal's  guard. 

These  are  the  elements  of  that  spurious  democracy  which  Gen.  Jackson's  intui- 
tive sagacity  foresaw  would  be  the  offspring  of  the  political  embraces  of  Calhoun, 
Tyler  and  Polk.  Among  the  last  letters  ever  written  by  him,  he  predicted  the 
ruin  of  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life,  and  that  Mr.  Polk  would  be 
among  the  first  to  lament  the  course  that  led  to  it.  These  brief  extracts  mark 
the  distress  with  which  this  sad  augury  closed  his  career.  In  a  letter  of  the  28th 
of  A  pril,  he  says  : 

"  My  dear  Friend :  Under  the  circumstances  with  whicWyou  were  surrounded,  there  was  but  one 
honorable  course  for  you  to  pursue,  unless  you  abandoned  your  democratic  principles,  and  divided 
the  party,  the  one  you  have  adopted.  Being  as  we  shall  be,  all  united  to  sustain  the  great  democratic 
party,  still  the  course  adopted  by  the  President  with  the  Globe  will  do  him  an  injury — it  cannot,  with 
all  our  best  exertions,  be  avoided.  The  old  democracy  proper  cannot  see  the  propriety  of  the  course 
adopted.  (The  italics  are  his  own.)  But  it  is  done,  and  note  what  I  say,  that  President  Polk  will 
be  amongst  the  first  of  the  old  democrats  proper  that  will  regret  it,  and  have  cause  to  regret  it." 

In  another  letter  he  again  takes  up  the  subject  and  reiterates  the  same  train  of 
thought,  but  breaks  off  his  unfinished  letter  thus: 

"  I  have  used  my  voice  to  prevent  that  evil  to  him  (Mr.  Polk)  and  the  democratic  party.  I  am  too 
unwell  to  write  much  to-day.  I  look  to  a  split  in  the  democratic  ranks,  which  I  will  sorely  regret, 
and  which  might  have  been  so  easily  avoided.   I  am  very  sick,  and  must  close." 

In  a  letter  of  the  3d  of  May,  he  writes  about  the  disposition  of  his  papers, 
and  recurs  to  his  distress  about  "  Col.  Polk's  course,"  closing  thus: 
'  "  My  dear  Friend  :  1  am  exhausted,  and  must  close  :  I  am  a  blubber  of  water  from  the  toes  to  the 
crown  of  the  head,  and  every  line  I  write  must  pause  for  breath.  May  the  choicest  blessings  of  Heaven 
be  bestowed  on  you  and  every  branch  of  your  family,  is  the  united  prayer  of  the  inmates  of  the 
Hermitage.  "  Your  friend,  Andrew  Jackson." 

These  extracts  are  given  to  show  that,  even  under  the  pressure  of  the  malady 
which  was  rapidly  hurrying  him  to  the  grave,  Gen.  Jackson's  mind  was  occupied 
with  what  he  considered  the  cause  of  the  country,  which  he  identified  with  "  ike 
republican  party"  "  the  old  democracy  proper"  in  opposition  to  the  nullifying 
party,  which  he  thought  aimed  to  destroy  the  Union.  The  annexed  extract  is 
from  a  letter,  the  last  which  his  pen  was  able  to  scrawl.  They  are  all  in  his  own 
handwriting.  The  strength  of  thought,  compared  with  the  feebleness  of  hand, 
showed  his  mind  survived  his  body.  It  was  intended  to  console  me  on  retiring 
from  public  life ;  and,  after  speaking  tenderly  of  our  private  relations,  he  expresses 
the  pride  he  felt  for  the  "high,  honorable  bearing  that  separates  you  from  the 
"  Globe  and  pecuniary  interest,  rather  than  do  an  act  injurious  to  the  great  demo- 
"  cratic  cause,  in  which  you  had  so  long  and  faithfully  labored,  and,  I  add,  suc- 
"  cessfvlly.  Thus  you  have  set  an  example  for  all  true  patriots  to  follow."  His 
affectionate  partiality  then  recurs.  Hej^entipns  that  he  heard  Sully  was  taking  a 
portrait  of  me,  and  adds :  ~¥     tf\  <U 

"  I  certainly  will  have  a  copy  of  it,  and  it  shall  have  a  place  in  my  own  room  ;*and^£EaMUpin  gone, 
in  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  my  Hermitage.   In  about  two  years  the  Gldbefwiw^geaitor  and 


40 


and  respond  to  the  call,  the  Globe  will  be  again  the  organ  of  the  Executive,  and  the  defender  of  our 
true  democratic  principles  and  our  glorious  Union,  as  long  as  democratic  principles  are  triumphant — 

mark  this." 

The  prediction  at  the  close  was  verified,  and  "within  the  time  mentioned  Ritchie 
was  sent  to  offer  its  surrender  [the  Globe]  to  its  old  editor. 

The  Kansas  act  is  now  the  test  of  democracy.  This  is  the  declaration  of  the 
President — of  his  official  organ — of  his  officeholders,  and  of  the  slaveholders.  The 
Jefferson  and  Jackson  democracy  is  utterly  scouted.  And  how  is  this  test  of  demo- 
cracy represented  in  Congress  ?  In  the  House,  from  the  North,  "  The  Union" 
counts  about  seventeen  ;  and  of  these  there  is  scarcely  one  that  did  not  reach  his 
seat  upon  other  issues  than  the  Kansas  question.  In  the  Senate,  from  the  North, 
there  is  not  a  senator  who  can  stand  by  the  test,  without  notoriously  misrepresent- 
ing his  state.  From  the  South  there  are  no  longer  whigs  or  democrats — all  parties 
are  swallowed  up  in  nullification  of  party  principles  for  the  purpose  of  extending 
slavery  over  new  regions,  and  without  the  justification  of  the  want  of  room  in  the 
slaves  states.  The  fifteen  slave  states,  with  little  more  than  one-third  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  free  states,  have  an  area  of  851,508  square  miles;  the  free  states 
only  612,597  square  miles — the  slave  states  having  also  the  advantage  of  a  better 
soil  and  milder  climate. 

What  a  revolution  in  the  course  of  the  first  half  century  bas  slavery  wrought  in 
the  principles  that  gave  birth  to  our  republic !  Freedom  was  the  basis  of  that 
republic.  It  is  now  insisted  that  the  constitution  carries  the  principle  of  bondage 
wherever  its  flag  makes  an  acquisition.  The  democratic  party  made  Jefferson  the 
apostle  of  its  faith.  Compare  the  Kansas  act  with  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  the  ordinance  of  1787.  In  his  first  paper,  Mr.  Jefferson  asserts  the  rights 
of  humanity — in  the  other,  excludes  slavery  from  all  the  territories  of  the  Union. 
The  Kansas  act  would  spread  it  over  the  continent ;  and  to  effect  it,  establishes  a 
new  system  of  politics  and  morals  for  the  democratic  party,  for  which  it  is  pre- 
scribed a3  a  test. 

It  is  democratic  now  to  break  faith  plighted  between  the  states,  in  compacts 
made  to  preserve  the  Union  and  its  peace. 

It  is  democratic  now  to  break  faith  with  constituents,  and  violate  the  representa- 
tive principle  on  which  our  republics  are  all  founded. 

It  is  democratic  now  to  disobey  the  instructions  of  constituent  bodies,  and  exert 
the  force  of  the  government  to  defeat  the  efforts  of  the  people  to  redress  the 
wrong  committed  by  one  set  of  representatives,  by  turning  them  out  and  choosing 
another. 

It  is  democratic  now,  after  nullifying  the  clause  authorizing  Congress  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  the  territories,  and  all  the  compromises  regulating  their 
mode  of  settlement  and  interpolating  the  new  principle  of  non-intervention  as  the 
substitute,  to  connive  at  the  use  of  armed  force  to  defeat  the  new  law — to  drive 
the  settlers  from  the  polls  where  they  were  invited  to  decide  the  question  of 
slavery — to  introduce  voters  from  a  slave  state  to  impose  slavery  on  the  territory 
against  the  will  of  the  rightful  voters,  the  actual  settlers — and  to  elect  a  legisla- 
ture representing  the  slaveholders  of  the  invading  state — to  usurp  the  government 
of  the  territory — repeal  the  organic  act  of  Congress — and  destroy  the  rights  gua- 
ranteed under  it. 

It  is  democratic  now  to  defend  the  establishment  of  test  oaths,  requiring  all 
settlers  opposed  to  slavery  to  swear  allegiance,  to  a  law  they  hold  to  be  unconsti- 
tutional, to  entitle  them  to  suffrage,  and  enabling  those  not  entitled  to  vote  as 
settlers,  to  avoid  taking  the  oath  of  residence,  on  which  the  right  of  suffrage  de- 
pends, by  paying  a  dollar  as  a  substitute  for  all  other  qualifications. 

It  is  democratic  now  to  expel,  as  aliens,  citizens  invited  by  the  Act  of  Congress 
to  settle  the  territory  and  to  intimidate  emigrants  opposed  to  slavery  from  enter- 
ing, by  examples  of  Lynch  law  which  would  disgrace  barbarians. 

It  is  democracy  now  to  pass  sedition  laws,  prohibiting  discussion  and  the  denial 
of  slave  ownership  where  slavery  was  not  authorized,  denouncing  the  penalty  of 
death  against  that  as  a  crime,  which  the  organic  law  deputed  as  a  duty  to  be  per- 
formed by  the  people. 

It  is  democracy  now  in  a  President  to  see  this  reign  of  terror  established  by 
force  and  arms,  and  an  usurpation  made  to  triumph  over  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  by  a  series  of  invasions  publicy  prepared,  announced  in  advance,  and  occu- 
pying more  than  a  year  in  accomplishing  their  object,  and  yet  not  to  raise  a  finger 
to  avert  the  wrong,  but  after  its  consummation  to  proclaim  that  he  would  use  all 
the  force  of  the  Union,  of  the  army,  and  the  militia,  if  necessary,  to  maintain  it. 

Against  this  spurious  democracy,  which  has  thus  perfected  its  system  in  the 
Kansas  act,  and  made  it  their  t^st  T,  as  a  dem<  crat  of  the  Jefferson,  Jackson,  and 
Van  Buren  school;  enter  my  protest.  .        ,  , 

r  • ,  F.  P.  Blair. 

*  4fty 


